Miami is the most expensive city in the U.S. to deliver healthcare, according to reporting by the financial website Bundle.com, indicating that providers should focus more on preventative care to keep hospital costs in line.
Bundle took a look at healthcare expenditures per capita, Medicare costs per enrollee, and healthcare spending not covered by insurance, using sources such as the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care.
According to the report, spending on Medicare patients in Miami is $17,724 per capita, versus less than $6,200 in Boise, Idaho. Number three in the study, Washington, D.C., had far greater access to physicians and hospital beds than many of the other cities in the study.
Industry observers say preventative care will have to play a larger role in cutting healthcare costs.
"We absolutely have to make it a national priority to reduce smoking, obesity and stress and work to improve nutrition, exercise levels and access to preventive medical care," said Julia Hallisy of the Empowered Patient Coalition. "We must go from being an unhealthy country--with far too many unhealthy and uninsured people--to one of the healthiest nations in the world."
Other cities cited as among the most expensive were Chicago; Plano, Texas; New York, and Los Angeles.
For more information:
- read the Bundle.com article
- examine the Dartmouth Atlas