Washington Post Examines Waste, Inefficiency In U.S. Health Care System

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 02 Dec 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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The Washington Post on Sunday examined some health care experts' views on the U.S. health care system and suggestions on how to make improvements. According to the Post, CEOs of many health care institutions agree that "[w]hen it comes to medical care, the United States isn't getting its money's worth." The U.S. spends 16% of its gross domestic product on medical care, which is more than any other nation, but it remains behind in the overall health of its residents, according to the Post.

According to the Post, the U.S. ranks 29th worldwide in infant mortality, 48th in life expectancy and 19th out of 19 industrialized nations in preventable deaths. The Post reports that experts say a "high-performance 21st-century health system ... must revolve around the central goal of paying for results." Reaching such a goal will entail managing chronic diseases, adopting electronic medical records, coordinating care, researching which treatments work best, providing financial incentives to reward success, encouraging preventive health care and ending the use of costly, unproven treatments, according to the Post.

The Post reports that medical experts' "harsh assessments" of the U.S, health care system "illustrate the enormousness of the challenge that awaits [president-elect Barack] Obama, who campaigned on the promise to trim the average American family's health care bill by $2,500 a year." According to the Post, "delivering on that pledge will not be easy, particularly at a time when the economic picture continues to worsen" (Connolly, Washington Post, 11/30).

Health care issues
In related news, Long Island Newsday on Sunday featured questions and answers on issues related to the U.S. health care system. The articles addresses topics related to the problems with the current system, costs and the numbers of uninsured residents. The health care proposals of several lawmakers and Obama also are discussed (Ochs, Long Island Newsday, 11/30).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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