Why are health care costs so high?
• Medical overhead continues to rise. Pharmaceuticals and supply costs are increasing well beyond the rate of inflation. • The United States applies (expensive) health care technology across the board to a much greater degree than in other countries. • Costs are shifted to those who pay. In 2007, GHS absorbed $56 million in costs for uncompensated care and bad debt. Those costs were passed on to those who paid their health care bills. • Processing of claims accounts for a large portion of health care costs. • Liability reforms in South Carolina help limit overall health costs by capping the amount each physician can be sued at $350,000. • Compensating preventive medical practices is not likely because prevention happens over a period of time and there is no incentive to do it now. • Payback for private insurers will not likely be seen since individuals change their health insurance agents. • Two options proposed by GHS might be to mandate wellness care or to require insurance companies
