Health care across the nation has been the rise for some time now. Reasons for the hike in health insurance rates are many and often complicated to completely decipher. Many factors contribute to any state's health care system, and since health care is a state rather than federal matter, it varies widely from state to state. But out of the entire nation, one state continues to have the most expensive health care system of all. As is the case with health care in general, the reasons are varied, but there are some clear indications of what makes New Jersey health care the most expensive. Cost isn't the only factor in New Jersey health insurance rates that makes them expensive; there are other, maybe not-so-obvious factors to consider.

Recently, the state of New Jersey has gone through a review of its budget and has made some drastic changes. With all of the chaos that goes along with a recession, New Jersey health care was bound to get hit. The state government is having trouble affording many of the government assisted programs it once sponsored, as well as paying off other government expenses. However, even with the high costs of New Jersey health insurance, the quality remains the same, which is just about average when compared to other states.

One of the reasons discovered as to why health care is so expensive in New Jersey didn't really have so much to do with government spending as it did with its citizens. A report conducted by the Fannie E. Rippel stated fairly clearly that there is an abundant use of health care throughout the state. What this means is that hospitals and doctor's offices were being used more often by New Jersey's citizens than in any other state. For example, Medicare in New Jersey had more beneficiaries with chronic, often severe illnesses than the entire country. This also includes beneficiaries who met with 10 different doctors and specialists within a six month period. That's quite a load.

Essentially, the state's citizens, including those on state funded health insurance and those with private insurance policies, are over using the health care system in the state. The hospitals are often overrun with patients; the doctor's offices are seeing the same issue there. It doesn't appear that this problem is going to stop since the state of New Jersey is planning on expanding its hospitals in order to be able to take more patients. This will mean more people will be able to go to the hospital and be seen, but that also means more money spent by the state and insurance companies.