Monday, April 24, 2017

Our National Health Care Bill



(credit :  most content of this post was gleaned from AARP April 2017 bulletin)

Our annual bill is $3.2 trillion annually.  And the attached chart shows where it goes.  Since we are all involved in either paying for this, or using some of its services, I thought it would be good to share this graph from AARP Bulletin  April 2017

Age is a big factor in health care costs. With the exception of Japan, the world’s
25 “oldest” countries are all in Europe; the United States ranks 29th in aging population percentage. That’s measured by the % of the population over age 65.

An interesting aging option (Government assisted) is a cash model. Germany, introduced a social insurance program for long-term care that includes a cash benefit option. This option provides beneficiaries with a cash payment to purchase services or support informal caregivers. In Germany, most cash benefits go to informal caregivers or are given to the household rather than used to buy formal services. 

Here is an interesting PDF on health care among developed nations – we obviously spend way more % of our GDP than most developed nations.   

Where does our USA health care dollars go?

1.     by far the most goes to hospital care  32% of all medical spending
2.     physicians get the next 20 %
3.     drugs get the next 10 %
4.     Government or Insurance company expenses get 8%
5.     Nursing care facilities take in about 5 % -- far less than I thought
6.     Research is about 5 %
7.     Personal care about 5 %
8.     Dental services about 4 %
9.     Medical equipment 4 %
10. other services  3 %
11. home health care only 3 % -- I thought it would be much more
12. public health care (for the poor ?)  3 %  .. not a great deal

Where does the money come from ?

1.     Private health insurance  33 %
2.     Medicare   20 %
3.     Out of pocket  11 %
4.     Medicaid  11 % --- not as much as some think but still sizeable
5.     VA or Military  3 %
6.     Public health money 3%
7.     other 3rd. party payers  8 %
      8.     non profits  8 % --- I guess like the Gates Foundation?  Not sure



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