Library of International Medical and Health Insurance Information and Resources

UNDERSTANDING RISING INSURANCE COSTS

TRYING TO MAKE SENSE OUT OF RISING HEALTH INSURANCE COSTS
RISING HEALTH CARE COSTS
RISING INSURANCE RATES
RATE COMPARISON OF INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC HEALTH INSURANCE
THE REAL DRIVER BEHIND HEALTH CARE COSTS
INSURANCE RATES WILL INCREASE
WHY INTERNATIONAL INSURANCE RATES INCREASE
INTERESTING & ALARMING STATS ON HEALTHCARE COSTS

RISING HEALTH CARE COSTS

Sometimes rising health care costs outside of the USA are influenced by rates inside the USA. Here is some information on this matter gleaned from the Wall Street Journal on March 12, 2001: After a period of moderate increases a study by the Health Care Financing Administration found that spending on health care is rising fast. Spending rose 8.3 percent in 2000 and is expected to grow 8.6 percent this year. By comparison, it rose 5.6 percent in 1999. In 1999 spending on prescription drugs jumped 17 percent. During the next four years drug costs are expected to rise about 15 percent annually.

Joe Manning, a correspondent for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, on Sept. 25, 2000, adds to the above by listing specific reasons for the increases as follows: Prescription drugs are being promoted with mass marketing; people are also going to the doctor more, often unnecessarily; diagnostic tests such as magnetic resonance imaging scans (MRIS) are being used more routinely; people are demanding more health care; an aging population demanding access to expensive new technologies and medicines; and premiums have been held down artificially.

It may not sound reasonable, but international insurance rates are influenced by domestic rates in the USA. Also, many Americans who work overseas still get most of their medical work done in the USA while they are on furlough.

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