COSTLY CHRONIC HEALTH CARE NEEDS ARE GROWING AND PUTTING CONSIDERABLE ATTENTION ON HEALTH SYSTEM

 This article discusses the annual global cost projections for chronic health care needs. It is stated that this cost has more than doubled since 2000, and medical spending had accounted for 87% of all health care spending in the United States. The paper also discusses how with this increased spending, there are limitations to resource utilization, equity, and access to care which are largely unaccounted for by these numbers. The paper discusses in detail the cost and access in the United States and Canada, and in the last part, it looks at health care costs trends in various middle-income countries. The paper finds that with health care costs increasing at over 10% per year, there are increasing pressures on the current system. Most developed countries already have developed chronic condition management systems which are able to assist in case management of chronic conditions. These systems are good at managing chronic conditions, but they are prone to cost shifting, offering ineffective treatments for diseases, and lack doctors. The paper gives an example of the Canadian Institute for Health Information where more than 40% of all visits to physicians result in a repeat visit in a year. With the increased awareness about the treatment of chronic conditions in Western countries, there is a need to identify efficient health care delivery in developing countries as well, in order to reduce the burden on their societies and economies.Background information on the cost of chronic health care needs:This article discusses the annual global cost projections for chronic health care needs. It is stated that this cost has more than doubled since 2000, and medical spending had accounted for 87% of all health care spending in the United States. The paper also discusses how with this increased spending, there are limitations to resource utilization, equity, and access to care which are largely unaccounted for by these numbers. The paper discusses in detail the cost and access in the United States and Canada, and in the last part, it looks at health care costs trends in various middle-income countries. The paper finds that with health care costs increasing at over 10% per year, there are increasing pressures on the current system. Most developed countries already have developed chronic condition management systems which are able to assist in case management of chronic conditions. These systems are good at managing chronic conditions, but they are prone to cost shifting, offering ineffective treatments for diseases, and lack doctors. The paper gives an example of the Canadian Institute for Health Information where more than 40% of all visits to physicians result in a repeat visit in a year. With the increased awareness about the treatment of chronic conditions in Western countries, there is a need to identify efficient health care delivery in developing countries as well, in order to reduce the burden on their societies and economies.This article explores the current economic issues in health care, which is mostly dominated by the chronic conditions that require long-term care. It is shown that these costs are growing faster than most other sectors, and they are expected to increase even further in the future. The paper discusses how most countries have developed strategies to deal with these costs, but most of their focus has been on the treatment of disease rather than prevention. This is because it is easier to manage certain diseases than others, and these approaches also lead to an underestimation of disease prevalence compared to what may be seen with prevention methods. The paper focuses on the health care costs in Canada and in the United States, and it also looks at the expenditure across different income groups in Canada. The paper then examines how in these countries, there is an increased focus on managing specific diseases to reduce the cost of chronic conditions in future. It is noted that the cost associated with chronic conditions in Canada is about $60 billion; however, this is an overestimate as it does not take into account what the money would have been invested in other areas. It is stated that these estimates are estimates of medical spending over a year, and they do not cover all costs, but they show what is accounted for by taxes. The main health care resources consumed are prescription drugs by $25 billion, government spending by $5 billion, and hospital care that accounts for $3 billion. There were also about 3.5 times more medical visits than there were people in Canada who had any of seven chronic diseases which account for 7-8% of all health care costs. The study also shows that in Canada there is a high prevalence of a wide range of chronic conditions, and they have been estimated to cost over $150 billion. The paper also notes that in the United States, there is a total annual deficit of $450 billion through medical spending alone, and this amount does not include private health care spending or costs from the US economy. In the last part of the article, it looks at various middle-income countries from Asia and Africa to Latin America, and it examines how their health care costs compare to those in developed countries. It is shown that with disease management systems along with public health services already in place, their health care costs are estimated to be lower than those in developed counties by a large margin. However, there are various limitations to these programs, and it is noted that they have not been widely implemented for fundamental reasons which are related to the perceptions of the industries involved. For example, in countries where private health care is allowed, there are restrictions on health care services that prevent them from being fully utilized. This leads to an inability to cover additional costs associated with chronic conditions. Although it has been shown by the researchers that people do not have access to these services in these countries, it is possible that future research will find otherwise. The paper concludes with a couple of recommendations about disease management programs and the funding allocation so as to reduce the burden on their economies and societies.