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Health Care Spending Per Person Hits New High

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Rising healthcare costs are a big concern.
Rising healthcare costs are a big concern.

Health Care Problem For New President

Whoever wins the current presidential election will inherit a scary health care reality when he/she takes office. For the first time in history, health care spending in America has topped, on average, $10K per person. That means the new president will be stuck with an unprecedented problem in how to provide the health care that was initiated during the Obama years.

Increase In Total Cost

The bean counters in the Department of Health and Human Services announced the new high last month and predicted that the total cost will increase by 5.8 percent annually from 2015 to 2025. That’s less than the increases from 2007-09, just before the Great Recession, but faster than in the post-recession years, when health care spending kept pace with modest economic growth.

Average Per Person

The per-person average of $10,345 is part of the $3.35 trillion total in health care expenditures expected this year. The annual increase for 2016 is expected to be lower than the forecasts for the rest of the decade.

Attributing Factors

DHHS experts attribute the rise to a stronger economy, faster growth in medical prices and an aging population. The Medicare and Medicaid programs that provide for the elderly and needy are both expected to see new demands as the baby-boomers shift into these categories. By 2025, the experts say, government spending at all levels will account for nearly half of all health care expenditures, an estimated 47 percent.

Obamacare

If Obama’s health care reforms survive attacks from the Republicans, the experts project that more than 90 percent of Americans will have some form of medical insurance.

Republican and Democratic Plans

The figures are causing major angst for both major political parties. Republican nominee Donald Trump has declared he will do away with Obama’s plan while preserving Medicare and seeing that Americans are not “dying in the streets.” Democratic choice Hillary Clinton promises to expand government health care benefits.

Prescription Drug Costs

Both candidates say they will tackle the high costs of prescription drugs and the resultant drain on health care dollars. But the extension of benefits to millions of Americans through Obama’s plan will inevitably add to the overall total unless changes are made.

Out-Of-Pocket

The DHHS report, published in the journal Health Affairs, also predicts that Americans will pay more out-of-pocket for care as the number of people covered by high-deductible plans continues to grow.

Caregiver Survival Tips

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Caregiver Survival Tips.
How to care for yourself when caring for others.

Anyone caring for the ill or elderly people needs to know a few caregiver survival tips. Caregiver burnout is a reality that can drain physical and psychological resources to the limit.

Caring for a family member who is ill or disabled can be a draining, depleting experience that calls for adjusting schedules and setting priorities, according to experts. The solution is effective time management that gives you some breathing room during demanding days.

Caregiver Survival Tips

Focus on what must be done and put other items into a “can wait” category. Do the most demanding things first, at the beginning of the day when you’re at your best. Be flexible so you can handle unexpected demands.

Make Some Time For Yourself

Failing to eat healthfully, exercise and allow yourself some “down” time to restock and restore can quickly lead to burnout. Try to prepare some healthy snacks, rather than grabbing what’s fast and convenient. (How come that seems to include everything you have an appetite for?)
Some physical activity, such as a walk, can help defuse stress and give you a mental lift. Don’t let your caregiving responsibilities keep you from getting adequate rest. If your patient naps, you do the same.

Use Technology To Help With Time Crunches

You may spend a lot of time in medical settings with your “patient.” Use a smartphone or other portable device to make use of waiting time to keep others updated, check your emails or simply listen to music or podcasts for a break.

Organize And De-Clutter

Caring for a person who is ill or otherwise in need of constant attention can be stressful. Messiness in the surroundings can multiply that stress. An organized environment will make it easier to deal with the demands of caregiving. Clean up messes as you go. Have a place for everything and keep “stuff” in its proper place. That takes a lot less time than cleaning up when things get into disarray.

Know And Acknowledge Your Limitations

Be honest about how much you can give to the demands placed on you. Often, the person being cared for is a loved one and you may be tempted to push yourself beyond your limits to provide the needed care. But failing to recognize signs of burnout may be detrimental to both you and the person for whom you are providing care. If it is possible, build a network of family or friends who can give you a needed break now and again. Look into community and social resources for help as needed. Physicians and other caretakers may be able to offer suggestions.

Medicare Benefits That May Help

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Medicare benefits that are helpful.
Find eight ways Medicare benefits can benefit you.

Medicare Benefits

Learning about the benefits of medicare can be a daunting process. In the words of Jaryn Laengrich, chief service officer at Cariloop, a Medicare service to help people caring for elderly persons, it is a “sprawling, complicated piece of law” that can be baffling. She notes these little known medicare services that the eligible may find useful.

Medicare Annual Wellness Screening

Medicare benefits allow you an annul wellness screening by a primary care physician. The objective is to prevent illness where possible. It includes an extensive appointment with a thorough review of the patient’s medical history. An Alzheimer’s screening is part of the exam if the physicians thinks it necessary. The wellness screening is offered through Part B.

Alcoholism Screening

Screening and counseling for alcohol misuse. Widowers over the age of 75 have the biggest problem with alcoholism, according to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence. More of those in this demographic are hospitalized with alcohol-related problems than for heart attacks. Annual screening is allowed by Medicare, if performed by a primary care physician. Four counseling sessions will be compensated, as well.

Balance Screening

Falls are a serious problem among the elderly. Medicare B will pay for 80 percent of a thorough screening to determine if balance is a problem and what might be the cause.

Obesity Counseling

Those enrolled in Medicare Part B. who have a body mass index score of 30 or higher may receive counseling in a primary care setting. The program also will pickup a major part of the cost of bariatric surgery aimed at reducing obesity. The amount depends on a patient’s Medigap supplement plan.

Shingles Vaccination

Shingles is a painful and distressing disease that can strike anyone who had chicken pox as a child. The coverage is included in Medicare Part D, which provides for medications.

Diabetes Self-Management Training

Medicare pays 80 percent of the cost of 10 training sessions, including one one-on-one visit with a specialist. The remainder are small-group sessions. The intent is to improve diabetes management. The disease can be debilitating and cause severe effects.

Hearing Tests

Although Medicare won’t pay for hearing aids, it will cover examinations to determine hearing loss. Efforts to get hearing aid coverage have failed to pass muster in Congress because of the scope of the problem. An estimated 37 million Americans suffer some hearing loss, but only 30 percent need hearing aids.

Hospice Care

Many Medicare recipients are not aware that they are eligible for end-of-life care. It is focused on palliative treatment, and is available only to those who are believed to be within six months of death. The patient must agree to forego treatment aimed at curing. Care usually is provided in the patient’s home and involves a team that includes a physician, nurse, social worker, chaplain and volunteer. The objective is to provide as much comfort care as necessary for the patient in his or her final days.

Beefing Up Steaks, Hamburgers

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omega-3-beefCould a little infusion of omega-3 fatty acids into your next helping of steak or hamburger make the meal more healthful? It’s the same thing that salmon naturally consume with their algae and it’s what walnuts contain in abundance, health experts say.

Some ranchers are experimenting with feeding their cattle flaxseed and marine algae to enhance the products they send to market. And researchers at Kansas State University are testing the products to see if they actually retain any health benefits from the added fats in their diets.

Texas food stores that sells the omega-3-enhanced meats reported that sales quadrupled over a seven-month period. And a national study suggests that consumers would be willing to pay $1.85 more per pound for enriched steaks and 79 cents more per pound of enhanced hamburger.

The movement runs counter to current wisdom that advises less beef in the diet. But in a country that consumes mountains of fast foods, many of them containing beef, maybe the health angle carries more weight. Nutrition experts say that people should consume at least 250 mg per day of the fatty acids eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids of the type that are contained in algae. Adding them to beef might encourage that level of consumption.

Adding algae and/or flaxseed to the diets of meat cattle increases the omega-3 content in their meat to at lest 200 mg per 5-ounce serving, compared with 20- to 30-mg in the meat of grass-fed cattle.

Salmon remains the best source of omega-3, providing 10 times the amount contained in enriched beef products – at least 2,000 mg in a 5-ounce serving.

Cost becomes a factor with omega-3 enhanced beef. Commercial sources of algae are not readily available. However, the costs of feeding cattle flaxseed to increase omega-3 content is offset because the animals tend to be healthier and need fewer antibiotics, those experimenting with the enhanced meat products say. And test sales in some markets suggest that consumers like the additional marbling, tenderness and flavors in the meat. They come back for more, preferring them over the grass-fed products that may be a little cheaper.

Other omega-3-rich products such as eggs, salmon and walnuts, also are attracting more consumers, particularly among the health-conscious. That may encourage sales for the enhanced beef products. Time will prove if there is a place in the popular market and whether the enhanced meats will find a permanent niche in the American diet.

Related articles across the web

    Effective Blood Tests For Cancer Coming

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    cancer-testsNew, fast DNA sequencing technology may lead the way to what the medical world has long hoped for: a simple blood test that would detect cancer in its earliest, most treatable stages.

    Confidence in the eventual widespread availability of such tests is being voiced in the medical community. For instance, Dr. Eric Topol, professor of genomics at the Scripps Research Institute, predicts that the DNA technology will become “the stethoscope for the next 200 years.”

    Research labs around the world are studying the possibilities. The potential is based on the fact that dying cancer cells shed DNA into an individual’s blood. The amount is miniscule and is obscured by healthy DNA in the blood, so measuring is difficult. But the science holds promise for large-scale screening in the future.

    Finding cancer early is the best indicator of successful treatment. In the United States, screenings such as mammograms and colonoscopies have marked clear success in curbing the death rates from breast and colon cancers.

    The prospect of “liquid biopsies” would significantly increase the ability to find cancers early. The science also has prospects eventually to aid in treatment, since doctors would be able to pick a therapeutic drug based on the specific DNA mutation driving a cancer. That eventuality would make it possible to base treatment on simple blood tests rather than invasive biopsies.

    Companies that produce fast gene-sequencing equipment already are anticipating a huge market ($40 billion is a figure bandied about) for their products..

    But there is a lot of research ahead before valid claims can be made for the cancer-detection properties of the science. Because there are many types of cancer, the ability to detect the most common types will have to be proven. The researchers argue that if they can demonstrate success with common cancer types, the technology will go mainstream.

    One Chinese physician deeply involved in the research has conducted a project with 20,000 middle-aged men in Hong Kong. The targeted form of cancer is nasopharyngeal carcinoma, a common type among Chinese men. Among the first 10,000 screened, the researchers found 17 cases of the cancer, 13 of them in the earliest, most treatable phase. Nearly all of those identified have been successfully treated with radiation. The typical survival rate is less than 70 percent when patients seek medical help based on advanced symptoms.

    Such evidence of successful research gives hope to the eventual application worldwide. In the not-too-distant future, a blood test for cancer may be on the list of annual checkup items.