A Broken System
The latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say 43.6 million were uninsured in 2006. For the past five years, the overall count has fluctuated between 41 million and 44 million people. According to the Institute of Medicine, 18,000 people die each year mainly because they are less likely to receive screening and preventive care for chronic diseases.
Americans continue to spend $2 trillion a year on health care, which is more than 15 percent of our GDP on health care. France spends about 11 percent, and Canadians 10 percent.
Spending more money does not equal better care, since both the French and Canadian systems rank in the top 10 of the world’s best healthcare systems, according to the World Health Organization. The United States comes in at number 37. The rankings are based on general health of the population, access, patient satisfaction and how the care’s paid for.
Americans are paying more, but not getting as much care for their money. According to Deloitte healthcare analyst Paul Keckley the money is going to pay for overhead, which include profits and administrative costs. Most private health insurance plans range between 10 percent to 30 percent in overhead expenses.
Mark Meaney, a healthcare ethicist for the National Institute for Patient Rights reports Medicare’s overhead is only 1 percent, because Medicare is an extremely efficient healthcare delivery system.
Approximately, fifty percent of all healthcare dollars spent in the United States flows through government-funded healthcare systems such as Medicare, Medicaid, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Veterans Affairs healthcare systems.
With the exception of Germany, Americans have shorter wait times, when it comes to nonemergency elective surgery such as hip replacements, cataract removal or knee repair.
However, that’s not a surprise given the number of U.S. specialists. In our medical schools, students training to become primary-care physicians have dwindled to 10 percent. The overwhelming majority choose far more profitable specialties in the medical field. In other countries, more than one out of three aspiring doctors chooses primary care in part because there’s less of an income gap with specialists. In those nations, becoming a specialist means making 30 percent more than a primary-care physician, but in America, the gap is around 300 percent.
Americans continue to spend $2 trillion a year on health care, which is more than 15 percent of our GDP on health care. France spends about 11 percent, and Canadians 10 percent.
Spending more money does not equal better care, since both the French and Canadian systems rank in the top 10 of the world’s best healthcare systems, according to the World Health Organization. The United States comes in at number 37. The rankings are based on general health of the population, access, patient satisfaction and how the care’s paid for.
Americans are paying more, but not getting as much care for their money. According to Deloitte healthcare analyst Paul Keckley the money is going to pay for overhead, which include profits and administrative costs. Most private health insurance plans range between 10 percent to 30 percent in overhead expenses.
Mark Meaney, a healthcare ethicist for the National Institute for Patient Rights reports Medicare’s overhead is only 1 percent, because Medicare is an extremely efficient healthcare delivery system.
Approximately, fifty percent of all healthcare dollars spent in the United States flows through government-funded healthcare systems such as Medicare, Medicaid, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Veterans Affairs healthcare systems.
With the exception of Germany, Americans have shorter wait times, when it comes to nonemergency elective surgery such as hip replacements, cataract removal or knee repair.
However, that’s not a surprise given the number of U.S. specialists. In our medical schools, students training to become primary-care physicians have dwindled to 10 percent. The overwhelming majority choose far more profitable specialties in the medical field. In other countries, more than one out of three aspiring doctors chooses primary care in part because there’s less of an income gap with specialists. In those nations, becoming a specialist means making 30 percent more than a primary-care physician, but in America, the gap is around 300 percent.
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