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The Rising Cost of Health Care
 About the rising cost of health care
The United States spent over $2.2 trillion on health care in 2006, representing more than 16 percent of the gross domestic product, according to the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
Why are medical costs increasing?
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Quick Reference Guide to rising health costs:
BCBShealthissues.com: Visit the new "rising costs" section of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association's issues Web site.
WebMD.com: Visit the site designed to help physicians, consumers, health care providers and insurers navigate the complexities of the nation's health care system.
The Oklahoma Caring Van provides free childhood immunizations through visits to licensed day care centers and child care homes.
Want the Oklahoma Caring Van to visit your child's day care center? Call us!
Oklahoma City: Brooke Townsend,
(405) 316-7216
Tulsa: Mandie Hurley,
(918) 551-3414 |
Several factors have led to increases in medical costs for Oklahomans:
- New medical and information technology
- Prescription drug costs and utilization
- Mandates and government regulation
- Increased reimbursement to health care providers
- Poor health status of Oklahomans
- High rates of major disease in Oklahoma
- The aging population
- Medical inflation
- Rising numbers of uninsured
- Rising reinsurance costs
- Malpractice costs, litigation and fraud
How are insurance premiums determined?
Insurance premiums are rising along with health care costs. Insurance premiums are determined by the following factors:
- The number of members who use their benefits
- Type of health care used — prescription drugs, emergency room, inpatient or outpatient care
- Utilization of services
- Age, medical history, lifestyle
- Cost of doing business
- Maintaining adequate reserves to pay claims
- Paying state premium taxes (2.25 percent) and federal income tax
- Quality accreditation costs
- Legislative / regulatory mandates
What is Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma doing to stabilize costs?
These steps are being taken to help maintain affordable benefits:
- Health screenings and children's immunizations through the Mobile Health Screening Unit and Caring Van Program
- Multi-tiered prescription drug formularies with built-in savings for generic and preferred name brand drugs
- Responsible rates for new and renewing employer groups
- Choices in health care benefit plan design, allowing employers and employees a range of affordable options
- Reimbursement methodologies for physicians, hospitals and other health care providers
- Fraud prevention and detection programs
- Employee productivity improvement and claims processing efficiencies
- Health promotion programs to help members better manage costly chronic health conditions
What can employers do to hold down costs?
Employers increasingly are sharing costs of health insurance benefits with their employees, encouraging more responsible use of benefits.
Remind your employees that they can help keep their health care benefits more affordable by following the suggestions for consumers of health care outlined in the next section.
What can consumers of health care do to hold down costs?
- Maintain good health and fitness practices
- Manage chronic diseases
- Use the emergency room only for emergencies
- Understand the costs of medical procedures and examining various alternatives
- Use generic prescription drugs whenever possible
- Learn about their health insurance benefits - what's covered and what's not; how to stay in their health plan's Blue Cross and Blue Shield health care provider network.
Download resources for the rising cost of health care
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