The world health organization defines an operational Health Care System as one that provides financing, a well trained and paid work force, an adequate medical information database, and health facilities available at convenient locations with the ability to provide adequate Health Care. There are 3 to 4 levels of Health Care that have been defined as primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary. Primary Health Care is provided by a general practitioner family doctor. Secondary Health Care is defined as emergency services. Tertiary Health Care is specialized care and quaternary is extreme services such as surgery.
Health Care Systems can be funded in five ways; taxation, social Health Insurance, private Health Insurance, out of pocket payment on demand, and charities. The cost of Health Care was around 18% of the GDP in the United States in 2011, while the Europeans only paid about 12% of the GDP. In 1960 the United States Health Care was 5% of the GDP and in 2018 it was 18.2%. The average retired American citizen will pay a about $5000 per year for medical expenses. Approximately 4% of Americans declare bankruptcy every year as a result of medical bills they cannot afford to pay.
American doctors are the highest paid doctors on the planet, averaging $215k per year! The average nurse make an average of $136,000 dollars a year. The range is $40k to $230k depending on education. That's more than some lawyers!
The association of American Medical colleges predicts a shortage of over 40,000 Physicians by 2030. This is what is driving up the cost of medical care in America, as well as an overpaid medical workforce. There are 893,851 professional Physicians providing Medical Care in America. They are split in half, between primary care and specialty care. Family medicine is the highest demand for doctors in the U.S.
There are 5723 hospitals in the United States, 4999 community hospitals, in 1000 326 critical access hospitals. Average daily cost of staying in a hospital is $1600 to $2000! I suggest you stay away from hospitals, as you will likely catch something; let alone the cost per day!
With 10% of doctor office visits being unnecessary, according to consumer Health Products association, Americans are driving up the cost of Health Care substantially! The highest cost of employer Health Care is called presenteeism, which are people who are at work with health problems and are not productive. This is another unnecessary 10% of Health Care, but comes out of the employer expenses. So having healthy employees is critical to a successful business.
Americans could reduce their health care cost by implementing self care. Learning to care for oneself is actually fairly easy and there are many books to be found on the subject. The average person could learn to treat sprains and strains, colds and flu, sties and athlete\'s foot, plugged ears, muscular problems, and many other things that are simple to do. There are also untold numbers of web sites to help with self care.
Additionally, many illnesses can be prevented with simple prevention measures. There is a large portion of Americans still smoking cigarettes. A huge portion of people are extremely overweight, due to poor diets and overeating. There\'s also a large portion of Americans who do not exercise, which is critical for good health and long life! Another area where prevention can make a difference is sleep deficiency, which contributes to heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity.
Americans spend over a billion dollars a year on prescription drugs! Most of these drugs have side effects ranging from mild to serious. With the high cost of prescription drugs it is more than worth the time to learn about herbs as they cost very little and in many cases work better with no side effects! Herbs are organic and are available nationally. Some herbs may need to be found online as they are not in the national chain stores. You can find herb books online and in organic food chain stores. It can lower your healthcare drug costs to almost zero!
In conclusion, it is obvious the 6% of GDP higher health care in America compared to Europe could be eliminated with fairly simple measures that any person could do. In fact it appears that it could be reduced by 20% or more! By reducing the demand for health care services, the cost for these services should come down, according to supply and demand, reducing the cost even more. It is a win win situation!
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