Healthcare spending has risen steeply over the recent past with the cost exceeding the $ 2 trillion mark (Pear, 2008). Over the next decade, healthcare spending is expected to soar even higher and this is accounted for by a number of reasons. The first reason is simply due to the growth in population. Notably, the growth in population translates to more people seeking healthcare, and the older these people are, the higher the cost healthcare owing to the higher number of comorbidities associated with old age. As such, population growth and ageing are the second and third most contributing factors to increase in healthcare spending. A second factor that will account for an increase in healthcare spending will be an increase in chronic illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension. According to a 2017 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, current trends indicate that such chronic illnesses are expected to rise in incidence, which translates to a higher cost of healthcare spending. Finally, a third factor that will lead to a rise in the cost of health care will be the rise in health insurance premiums. For instance, the average annual premium for family health care coverage rose nearly 5% in 2018 to $19,616 (Probasco, 2018).This has been confounded by the Medicare and Medicaid programs that have resulted to an overall rise in demand for healthcare services.
In light of the expected increase in the healthcare spending, managers would need to implement strategies that minimize healthcare costs. Implementing a robust wellness program is an important strategy that managers can apply. The would include provision of education on wellness, encouraging employees to achieve goals together through social wellness, encouraging a corporate culture of wellness , and using posters at workplaces to remind employees of the need for the involvement in wellness programs. The use of such wellness strategies will reduce health costs through enabling employees to be more inclined to prevent illnesses thus reducing the number of visits to healthcare professionals (Kaplan & Porter, 2011). A second strategy that managers can employ to reduce healthcare costs is provision of direct primary care to employees. This can take the form of on-site or near-site employer clinic. In this kind of arrangement, employer-sponsored clinics offer accessible and affordable care to employees and their families, employer-sponsored clinics offer accessible and affordable care to employees and their families for a fixed monthly cost. This strategy will reduce healthcare costs not only through early treatment of employees’ illnesses which would prevent the need for specialized treatment of advanced diseases, which are far more costly than primary healthcare. A third strategy that managers can implement to minimize healthcare costs employee involvement to encourage them to embrace generic medicines. While these medications offer similar therapeutic effect, they are cheaper than the original medications. This will directly contribute to cheaper healthcare costs for managers (Probasco, 2018). One lifestyle change which I can implement to reduce my healthcare costs is through continuous engagement in physical exercises. This will reduce the likelihood of having lifestyle diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, thus reducing my healthcare cost in the future.
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References
Kaplan, R. S., & Porter, M. E. (2011). How to solve the cost crisis in health care. Harvard Business Review, 89(9), 46-52.
Pear, R. (2008) Health spending in U.S. exceeds $2 trillion for first time | New York Times Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/world/americas/08iht-health.4.9083459.html
Probasco, J. (2018) Why Do Healthcare Costs Keep Rising? | Investopedia Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/insurance/why-do-healthcare-costs-keep-rising/
