It sounds like a nursery rhyme, but it's actually true. Avery Johnson of the Wall Street Journal reported on an investor conference of Goldman Sachs in June of this year, in which major insurers discussed an unprecedented downward trend in medical spending. This has led to increased profits for insurance companies, but uneasiness in the many industries that live off of the abundance of excessive medical costs. Specifically, hospital income is down 2-15%, costs associated with doctor visits are down 7%, and though patients are visiting quick care type providers more often, they are less likely to fill the prescriptions they receive at those visits. Simply put, people are going to the doctor less, they are spending less time and less money in the hospital and are taking less medications. Humana reported and increase in profits of 30% and Aetna 42% since the patients they are insuring are costing them less money despite the fact that they raised premiums quite a bit last year. ...
The cost of health care in the US is higher than anywhere else in the world, and yet we are not healthier than our peer nations. In fact, in terms of such measures as infant mortality and life span, we don't measure up. Why is this? Many people involved in providing or receiving care have some pretty good ideas about what costs so much, and what we can do to reduce costs and improve quality. Sharing these stories is an important step in creating affordable universal health care.