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It’s no secret that health care costs and spending have been on the rise for decades. And the U.S. is one of the top spending countries in the world when it comes to health care.
Dr. Dean Sienko is the Associate Dean of Prevention and Public Health at Michigan State University and recently visited Michigan Tech to talk to the community about the sustainability of current health care trends.
Sienko said, “The cost of health care has been rising substantially and is likely to continue to do so. The population is getting older and older people demand more in terms of health care services. These increasing costs for health care are putting pressures on other parts of the economy.”
Dr. Sienko says the health care field should be focusing more on prevention rather than medical services. He also emphasized that a very small percentage of the population is using the majority of health care services in the U.S.
These discussions are important to have so that the public is aware of the stresses health care puts on society and how to prepare for the future.
Sienko said, “I think we need to have discussions, not only amongst medical professionals but people in general. How are we going to deal with this? How much of this can we afford? And where might we say as a society, you know, we can’t afford to do all these things for everybody….Tough decisions to make. ”
