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 treat cancer. However, there are times that some patients are a bit paranoid and believe they have cancer and request tests to be sure. This is not necessary if the patient shows no signs of having cancer and the money can be saved. I believe that the article is very valid with saying that a lot of the spending is going to unnecessary things.
The reason why I believe this is because there are those patients who are able to afford care and can’t get covered for care due to the fact that there is not enough funding available. The article is also valid in identifying ways that the unnecessary costs can be cut without disrupting the quality of care given to the patients. The ability to save money by cutting the unnecessary spending can help the money go to services like Medicare. I believe that the spending discussed in this article is way too much on unnecessary services that are not helping to improve patient’s health.
There is no reason that $750 billion is being wasted and it could go to services that can help those who can’t afford healthcare and those on Medicare. I believe that the government could focus that money on prevention methods that would help to avoid patients requiring more care. Prevention efforts are important and yet the government doesn’t invest enough money in it. The article had stated that recently “ The House of Representatives voted 236 to 183 to repeal the Affordable health Care Act’s Prevention and Public Health Trust Fund” (Cuomo, 2012).
Instead of trying to prevent the spending on unnecessary services and issues, repealing this act just ensures that there will be more costs to come due to the fact that prevention efforts are not being taken seriously. In conclusion, this article talked about the fact that a lot of the government spending on healthcare is being wasted on unnecessary services. The government is spending money on healthcare that can be cut in order to spend money where it is needed in healthcare.
If the government focused more on being able to cut costs and provide quality care, $750 billion can go to Medicare services or even to state agencies that are trying to help uninsured patients get proper care. The government spending on healthcare should be spent on ensuring the improvement of patient’s health. References Cuomo, M. (2012, September 25). Margaret I. Cuomo, M. D. : The Truth About Health Care Costs. Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. Retrieved October 23, 2012, from http://www. huffingtonpost. com/margaret-i-cuomo-md/health-care-costs_b_1901742. html
