The Best Ways To Reduce Health Care Spending

There is no getting away from the fact that average Americans spend far too much money on health care. Indeed, so does the government. Thanks to the recent Obama Care roll out, the state has now committed an astonishing amount of funds for public health issues. While we’re a long way off the methods used in the UK, we’re still moving towards a time when we will all have to fund treatment for other people. So, it makes sense that we should do our best to reduce spending wherever possible. Experts in the industry have made a number of fantastic suggestions that should help to ensure we look after the most vulnerable people in society. They will do that without bankrupting the country.

Remote patient monitoring

One of the biggest costs in health care is hospital beds. We spend thousands to keep people under observation when they are well enough to go home. Don’t worry though, the solution to that problem is staring you right in the face. Remote patient monitoring devices work by assessing the vital signs of a patient and sending them to medical professionals in real time. That means people can leave the hospital and still get the same level of care and attention in their home. Will remote patient care play a big role in the health industry of the future? Almost certainly.

Capping drug company profits

There has been a lot of talk during the last few months of capping the amount of profits drug companies can make. At the current time, the products sold by those firms to the public have an astonishing 100% markup. The people in charge of those specialist businesses say they have to charge so much to cover the cost of further research. However, most citizens would agree that making medicine expensive is not in the public interest. So, we should either cap profits at 50% or privatize the entire industry.

Employing doctors from overseas

Employing more foreign doctors could help to reduce spending because they are willing to work for less reward. They still have the same level of training, and they can still perform the same job. In fact, most of them will have studied in the UK or US to gain their qualifications. You could argue that importing more medical professionals from abroad would mean American doctors find themselves out of work. However, they can remedy that issue by simply dropping their prices. There is nothing wrong with healthy competition.

Taking preventative measures

Lastly, anyone who wants to reduce the cost of medical care should take preventative measures. It doesn’t matter that heart bypasses cost thousands of dollars if you don’t need one. By keeping your children fit and healthy, you should limit the chances of them needing medical treatment in the future. If everyone follows suit, we will soon find ourselves in a world where the cost involved is not such a big problem.

There are lots of other ways we can reduce medical spending, but those are by far the most simple. Just look after yourself and hope the government put measures in place to ensure you don’t lose your home next time you break an arm.