Why is our health care dollar rising ?

There are Medicare deficits in State and Federal budgets.
Low reimbursement rates to certain states by Medicare
(10% of our population consume 30% of the health care dollar and those over
60 years are growing in numbers) Providers are forced to shift these lost revenues to patients and/or organizations.
The cost of prescription drugs have doubled since 1993 (high cost television commercials
and printed marketing strategies). Medications are wasted (e.g. once a patient is given a medication from the pharmacy, if for some reason the patient does not use it due to death
or change in condition all the medication has to be thrown out. Millions of dollars are
thrown out).
New and expensive technology, more transplants, MRIs, etc.

What can we do to hold down costs?

Become more involved with your health care system so you can make more careful
about choices.
Become more aware of alternative or complementary health care (Americans are spending
over 20 billion dollars on alternative health care because our traditional Western Health
care cannot help them).
Take an active role in improving one’s health, 50% of all morbidity and mortality is due to
heart disease which we can control: weight management, exercise, smoking,
stress management, & diet.
We also need to lower cholesterol, saturated fats and processed sugars and get
adequate sleep.
Wellness programs are cost effective to employers by decreasing sick time and
improving productivity.