It is no secret that over time there have been especially noticeable transformations in the development of the US healthcare systems. Based on this fact, part of the expenses and income begin to prevail over others, being influenced by both external and internal factors. Thus, this paper is devoted to a deep and detailed study of healthcare spending over a certain period of time.
The topic of changes in US healthcare spending over time is a collection of facts regarding the dynamics of federal budget expenditures on domestic medicine from 1970 to 2022. It becomes apparent how; recently, there has been a strong tendency towards an increase in national spending on the implementation of medical services, most of which falls on insurance programs (Kurani et al., 2022). Nevertheless, the COVID-19 outbreak has made certain adjustments, smoothing circumstances concerning the “expenditure-consumption” correlation.
Furthermore, it is crucial to note the following fundamental figures. In general, total healthcare spending growth from $ 74.1 billion in 1970 has risen to $ 4.1 trillion in 2020. Most of the spending is on insurance programs, hospital maintenance, preserving the quality of services, and fighting COVID-19. It is impossible not to mention a decrease in cash expenditures and a sharp increase in public health spending from 2019 to 2020 by more than 860% in response to the coronavirus pandemic and a 2.2% decrease in GDP in 2020 (Kurani et al., 2022). Insurance spending has recently increased by more than 46% over the past years (Kurani et al., 2022). The actual approximate situation picture is associated with rising service and medication prices.
A health policy analyst might use the information to research and identify specific problems and suggest proposed initiatives, having previously discussed the issues in the field of providing quality medical services with colleagues. Additionally, this procedure will help introduce particular interventions in the competent and correct allocation of health care costs. Thus, this specialist will later understand these strategies’ impact and potential results on society.
Summarizing the above, it is necessary to state that recently there has been a trend of an active increase in spending on the healthcare system. In particular, this phenomenon is noticeable when comparing the time periods between 1970 and 2020. Nevertheless, COVID-19 has made some adjustments due to a decrease in demand for medical services, but there is also an extraordinary demand for insurance programs.
Reference
Kurani, N., Ortaliza, J., Wager, E., Fox, L., & Amin, K. (2022). How has U.S. spending on healthcare changed over time? PETERSON-KFF Health System Tracker. Web.