In the last few years, the cost of healthcare has risen, potentially affecting the future for many college students. 

On Sept. 27, the St. Edward’s University Economics Club hosted a panel discussion about the price of healthcare and its impact on individuals.

“We spend a lot of money on healthcare, even though most of us are unhealthy, and all of that spending only benefits 5 percent of the population,” club president and senior Gilbert Galindo said. “The U.S. is the only industrialized country without some kind of nationalized healthcare system.”

Despite this spending excess, the U.S. also falls behind in rankings of healthcare effectiveness.

“Compared to other nations, the United States spends an unusually high amount of money on healthcare, but we do not rank higher on things like infant mortality rate compared to other countries that spend less,” said Matt Clements, club adviser and chair of the economics department.

According to Clements, the problems with healthcare costs lie in economic theory.

“People who have insurance do not understand the actual cost of care,” Clements said. “This creates an inflated demand. Doctors are not paid for making people healthy; they are paid for doing ‘stuff.’ A doctor might have the incentive to do the most expensive treatment, even though it is the most invasive and potentially not the most effective one.”

Other students also support revamping the current system.

“Both of my parents are in the healthcare industry,” freshman Jeslyn Shuh said. “My dad used to work in the maternity ward, and he said it was really sad to see parents whose babies were born with problems that could be fixed with surgery but are not because the parents cannot afford it.”

When it comes to remedying problems in the system, Galindo is hopeful for the future that the Affordable Care Act offers.

“I am very fickle about the subject, but there were a lot of good points made in the forum,” Galindo said. “The short term consequences may cause problems, but I think that, in the long term, it will be a good thing.”

Galindo also agrees that improved healthcare will affect the U.S. as a whole.

“It is only going to boost our economy,” Galindo said. “If you make people healthier, they will just become more productive members of society, and being healthy also means that they are more likely to spend money on things and further help the economy.”

The bureaucracy of insurance companies plays an important role in the cost of medical care, as well.

“Insurance companies only spend 80 percent of the money they get from premiums on claims,” Clements said. “That means that 20 cents out of every dollar you pay to your insurance company is spent on keeping the company running.”

Processing insurance claims is also a tremendous task and creates extra work for employees.

“This artificially inflates the cost,” Clements said. “My doctor’s office has several other doctors in a practice together, and they have an entire person whose only job is to process insurance, but she could just as well be working somewhere else.”

Besides the economics of healthcare, some students see it as a moral issue.

“I personally think that healthcare should be free,” Shuh said. “Healthcare is a basic human need. I just think it is wrong to make a profit off of someone’s life.”