We keep hearing that it is essential to have a balanced and varied diet to be healthy. Apart from that, we know that we need to work out regularly. Finally, we also know that regular medical checkups are the best prevention method! The doctors, the media, the government, etc., all make sure that we know these things. Okay, we can say that they have good intentions or at least some of them. But what we don't know, though, since no one wants to talk about it, is healthcare costs rising and why?
If not before, that question arrived with the SARS CoV 2 pandemic. Many people started taking loans from companies like Loan Solution to cover the unexpected costs. The fact is that the healthcare system in the USA functions differently than in many other countries. The main difference is that the cost for an individual is much higher than in countries of the European Union. According to the Johns Hopkins report, the United States spends more on healthcare than any other country that we consider as developed.
At the same time, the research shows that nearly one in three Americans worry about the ability to afford healthcare. How can we not, when we receive the news like the one from June this year about a man who spent 62 days in the hospital and received a bill of 1.1 million dollars! Who can afford that? We always knew that the healthcare cost in America is expensive. Nonetheless, this information made us wonder what is exactly going on and why does the cost of healthcare keep rising.
How Much Do We Pay Each Month for Healthcare?
We mentioned that the US healthcare system differs from many others. It doesn't mean that you are playing everything because the majority of workers in the States have some sort of health insurance plan. That said, how much you are paying out of your pocket depends on the plan. For example, under the Affordable Care Act, you have a choice between four types of insurance - bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. With bronze, the insurance company pays 60% of costs, while you pay 40 percent. With platinum, only 10% goes out of your pocket. What is the average healthcare cost per month? Theoretically, we could say that the average monthly cost is about $456 for an individual and $1,152 for a family. But the thing is that in reality, these costs vary depending on the location, age, income, and many other factors. For example, some insurance companies have chosen to charge smokers more than nonsmokers.
The Cost of Healthcare When You Don't Have an Insurance
The question that emerges is how much does healthcare cost without insurance? It is hard to give a straightforward answer to that question because it depends on what you need. If we want to talk about average costs, we would say that a single trip to the ER can cost you anywhere from $150 to $3000 if you are not insured. That, of course, depends on the severity of the problem that brought you to Emergency, the type of care you need, etc. For example, a level I urgent care visit will cost you up to 280 dollars. Level II care would be somewhere between 150 to 440 dollars, etc. Keep in mind that by level I, we mean very basic issues like strep throat, etc.
Increase in Healthcare Cost
When we observe healthcare costs over time, it is clear that there is a dramatic increase. According to experts, that is especially true when we talk about premium plans. What causes this situation? They say, in the past, insurance companies considered various factors when determining the cost of your plan. Now, this seems to have changed, in the view of some experts, because of the Affordable Care Act. When we take the healthcare cost analysis, we see that the cost for an individual 40-year-old man on a silver plan for 2022 is 41 dollars. It is an increase of 1 percent compared to 2021. The healthcare cost statistics show clear jumps in 2022 across the US. For example, in South Dakota, the price was 659 dollars in 2021 and will be 811 dollars in 2022, which is an increase of 23 %. In Arizona, it went up by 13.81%.
Bottom Line
The US healthcare system was always criticized because of the exceptionally high costs. However, it doesn't seem the healthcare cost skyrocketed, as the statistical data shows. With the ongoing health crisis, followed by the economic slowdown, the big question is how many people will be able to afford adequate healthcare?
Daniel Miller is an experienced specialist in the business and financial area. Daniel has also worked as a financial advisor at a bank and provided consulting and advice about budgets, savings, insurance, stocks, retirement funds, tax advice, etc. He is currently doing specific research on the topic.
