Rising health care spending is driving a triple crisis in U.S. health care; the disappearance of employer-based coverage; the gradually developing crisis in Medicaid; and Medicare is threatened by rising health costs. The whole system of employer-based health care is dealing with severe costs issues. There are several reasons for these issues, but mainly health care costs at current levels are now so large that companies are cutting costs by reducing coverage or increasing premiums. Unfortunately it is usually both. Eventually, we may perhaps see the whole employer health care initiatives go away. Advances in medical technology, which causes doctors to spend more on their patients because newer services are available, leads to higher insurance costs which many people cannot afford. More people are losing their health coverage because they cannot pay the premiums or the co-insurance payments. The uninsured are a growing number in the U.S. As an example of advancing technology, the cost of a hip MRI is $1,800, and this procedure was not available ten years ago. This will surely make insurance more costly, but it’s diagnostic technology that orthopedic doctors will use frequently. Medicaid and Medicare In the US health care system nearly half of total
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