Savvy Health-Care Seekers Don’t Take Drugs

By Michael Dorausch, D.C.

Federal health economists report today that for the first time in almost a decade, expenditures on health have outpaced the growth of the U.S. economy.

According to reports, this was the third year of accelerated growth in health-care spending, while the nation’s gross domestic product has began to shrink.

According to an article on Yahoo news, insurers are likely to charge higher premiums and employers will be asking consumers to pay a higher share for their health costs. Employers will be looking for ways to keep costs low.

According to reports, prescription drug spending accounts for 9.4 percent of the increase in health-care spending. This has been the sixth consecutive year of double-digit growth for drugs and according to the reports, consumers are being hit especially hard by the higher costs of drugs. The economists report that direct to consumer advertising has fueled the higher spending in outpatient drugs and more new drugs on the market have increased coverage of pharmaceuticals by insurers.

But if drug spending accounts for nearly 10 percent of the increase in health-care spending would it not make sense to begin applying methods of health-care that do not require the use of drugs? One could estimate that consumers receiving regular chiropractic care take far less over-the-counter and prescription medications than the average consumer in the U.S.

But are the costs saved worth the expense of receiving regular adjustments? If you are looking at this purely from an economic standpoint, not taking Tylenol daily because you visit your chiropractor once a week may not provide a huge amount of savings, but for those that are now off of a host of medications including both over-the-counter and prescription pharmaceuticals, the savings could be tremendous. That’s not even accounting for the additional benefits of receiving regular chiropractic care.

Yahoo News: Health Spending Growing Faster Than U.S. Economy