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The
worrying cost of health insurance has affected the social and economic setup of
the USA.
The problem of increasing healthcare expenses is aggravating, as is the health.
Employers are struggling to meet the health insurance costs of their employees;
no wonder that they are shifting their focus to foreign countries.
The
medical allowance is the costliest benefit that is paid to a US employee,
according to the findings of the Employment Policy Foundation.
In 2004, the
national health care expenditure rose by 7.9%, three times higher than the
inflation rate. In 2006, the employer-sponsored health insurance premium
increased by 7.7 percent, two times the rate of inflation. The estimates show
that the average yearly premium costs about $11,500 for an employee with
four-member family and about $4,200 for a single person. It is estimated that
if this trend continues, the cost of medical expenses will cross $4 trillion by
the next one decade.
Why the
health insurance costs are so high? USA, which boasts of owning the
best health care system, fails to recognize the facts underneath this alarming
situation. While the average spending on healthcare by the developed foreign
countries accounts less than 10% of their GDP, the same in the USA accounts for
more than 17% of the GDP. It is the failing health reforms of the USA that has to
be blamed for this disturbing situation.
The
rising cost of healthcare has a tremendous impact on the US economy.
Most of the people who are not covered under the health insurance plan
attribute their failure to do so to the rising costs of the medical insurance.
If such an uninsured person meets with an accident or suffers from a terminal
illness, the entire family will be ruined.
The news
is a bit harsher for the elderly citizens. It is estimated that the average
healthcare cost for a retired couple will be about $300,000.
Unless
drastic steps are adopted to reform the healthcare sector and improve the
health of the average US
citizen, this situation is going to raise challenges to the economic stability
of the country.
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