Government Spending on Healthcare
Government Spending on Healthcare
Talia Oliver
10/22/2012
HCS/440
Donna Lupinacci, MSN
The article I read was written by Margaret Cuomo, M.D. and it focused on health care costs and how the government is doing unnecessary spending in health care. According to the article, the government has spent about $750 billion dollars on medical care that was not needed. Some of the areas where the author believes that the money has been wasted have been in unnecessary services, excessive administrative costs, inflated prices, prevention failures and fraud. The issue is that this spending is not actually contributing to the improvement of patient health. The author the author had stated that “Flaws in the current system of cancer treatment contribute to unnecessary spending” (Cuomo, 2012). There is so much money being spent on the blood tests, diagnostic scans and other medical procedures that deal with cancer and it is costing about $200 billion every year. With their being so much unnecessary spending on healthcare, Cuomo discussed how a group called the IOM committee was able to come up with ways in order to cut the spending and be able to continue to provide quality health service. The article discusses that the IOM believes that “Eliminating wasteful spending for just one year ($750 billion) would be equal to more than 10 years of Medicare cuts” (Cuomo, 2012). This wasteful spending according to the article can’t continue to happen and it is important that we understand where the money is being spent and how the excessive spending can be changed. My opinion of the article is that there is too much money being spent by the government on healthcare that is not contributing to ensuring the improvement of patient health. When you look at the unnecessary medical care, there are services that are not needed but the money is being wasted when it could be spent somewhere else. Cancer is a serious issue and I believe it is important for patients to get assistance to help
Talia Oliver
10/22/2012
HCS/440
Donna Lupinacci, MSN
The article I read was written by Margaret Cuomo, M.D. and it focused on health care costs and how the government is doing unnecessary spending in health care. According to the article, the government has spent about $750 billion dollars on medical care that was not needed. Some of the areas where the author believes that the money has been wasted have been in unnecessary services, excessive administrative costs, inflated prices, prevention failures and fraud. The issue is that this spending is not actually contributing to the improvement of patient health. The author the author had stated that “Flaws in the current system of cancer treatment contribute to unnecessary spending” (Cuomo, 2012). There is so much money being spent on the blood tests, diagnostic scans and other medical procedures that deal with cancer and it is costing about $200 billion every year. With their being so much unnecessary spending on healthcare, Cuomo discussed how a group called the IOM committee was able to come up with ways in order to cut the spending and be able to continue to provide quality health service. The article discusses that the IOM believes that “Eliminating wasteful spending for just one year ($750 billion) would be equal to more than 10 years of Medicare cuts” (Cuomo, 2012). This wasteful spending according to the article can’t continue to happen and it is important that we understand where the money is being spent and how the excessive spending can be changed. My opinion of the article is that there is too much money being spent by the government on healthcare that is not contributing to ensuring the improvement of patient health. When you look at the unnecessary medical care, there are services that are not needed but the money is being wasted when it could be spent somewhere else. Cancer is a serious issue and I believe it is important for patients to get assistance to help