One of the most expensive bills for every household is healthcare. Whether you need regularly medication and treatment, or you barely use it at all, it can still take a huge chunk of your pay check to be able to afford to protect you and your family. You know it’s important, but often it can seem like you’re throwing money away if you don’t use it. If you’ve ever wondered why you’re paying so much, here are some of the reasons the costs are so high. 

The basics

The main reason for rising health insurance costs is simple. The unhealthier citizens are, the more chronic diseases they’ll develop and the more treatment they’ll need. The latest research suggests around 6 in 10 adults in the US have a chronic disease. Even more worrying, around 4 in 10 have two or more chronic diseases. These include heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and cancer. 

Whilst some of these conditions may be hereditary, more often than not they are caused by bad life choices. The bottom line is that if everyone in America stopped drinking alcohol, stopped smoking, ate healthily and exercised more, those numbers would be drastically reduced. Until then, prices will always be high. 

Fraud at fault

One of the major reasons that healthcare can be so expensive is the sad fact that some people are lying to their providers. According to the government, healthcare fraud is an increasing problem across the country. Whether it’s “phantom billing” for services that were never actually carried out, or falsifying a patient’s diagnosis to allow providers to conduct unnecessary tests and procedures, there are a lot of people making money out of the system illegally. 

Whilst fraud is a huge issue for the industry, there are people taking steps to prevent money wrongfully being taken out of the system. Since the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program was set up, over $33 million has been recovered and returned to the healthcare industry. 

The good news is that it’s only a small number of doctors and nurses who are working unethically. That will come as little relief to those doctors who now have every move scrutinized to check they aren’t one of the bad ones. Some law firms specialize in defending those hard working medical staff if they were ever to be falsely accused of such crimes. With their continued efforts, hopefully good doctors will be able to continue their work and those will purely financial motives will be removed and help reduce premiums. 

Explore the market 

You may be able to reduce the cost of your health insurance by changing the company that provides it or even altering your plan. Like most things in life, the more you spend on it the more you’ll be covered for. It’s important you thoroughly read your documents as you might be paying for something you don’t need. For example, some policies will charge premiums for those who take part in high-risk sports or activities.