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Medicare News
Government Paying 60 Percent of Nation's $790
Billion Hospital Bill
Older Americans in
Medicare, Medicaid drive up the cost
 September 23, 2006 The U.S.A. may not need to
adopt legislation establishing a national health care plan it may just
happen. A new report says the nation's hospitals billed for $790 billion
in 2004, with 60 percent paid by either the federal or state
governments.
Clearly, one of the main reasons so much of the
hospital bill is paid for by the federal government is Medicare.
Medicare provides national health insurance for senior citizens, as well
as some disabled, but it is these patients that are most often in need
of hospital services.
Additionally, because older Americans are most
often the poorest, many are covered by Medicaid, with state governments,
with some federal help, paying the healthcare bills.
The new report by HHS Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality, says the bill represents the total amount charged
for 39 million hospital stays that year.
These are highlights from the federal report:
Nearly $500 billion, or 60 percent, of the
national hospital bill went to the federal and state governments for
Medicare and Medicaid patients.
One-fifth of the national hospital bill was for
treatment of five conditions: coronary atherosclerosis, mothers
pregnancy and delivery, newborn infants, acute myocardial infarction,
and congestive heart failure.
Hospital stays for coronary atherosclerosis
incurred the highest charges ($44 billion); mothers pregnancy and
delivery had the second highest charges ($41 billion).
Medicare, which provides insurance for the
elderly, had pneumonia and osteoarthritis among its top five most
expensive conditions.
Medicaid, which covers certain groups of
low-income patients, had treatments for pregnant mothers and their
deliveries, plus care of newborn babies, as its two most expensive types
of hospital stays.
Medicaids top five most expensive conditions
also included pneumonia, schizophrenia, depression and bipolar
disorders.
Private insurers biggest bills were for
pregnancy and delivery, care of newborn infants, hardening of the heart
arteries, heart attack and back problems.
Brain trauma and stroke were among the expensive
conditions billed uninsured patients.
AHRQ, a part of the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, works to improve the quality, safety, efficiency and
effectiveness of health care in the United States. This AHRQ News and
Numbers is based on The National Hospital Bill: The Most Expensive
Conditions, by Payer, 2004. . The data are from the agencys Healthcare
Cost and Utilization Project -- the nations largest source of
statistics on hospital inpatient care for all patients regardless of
type of insurance or whether they were insured.
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