Answering the Call to Reform America's Broken Health Care System

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"We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise healthcare’s quality and lower its cost."

- from President Barack Obama’s Inauguration Address

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The Need for Healthcare Reform

Many Americans believe the United States has the best medical system in the world, but what we have is the largest, most expensive healthcare system. U.S. spends more on health care than any other country, but falls behind most other developed countries on quality and access to care.

Health spending in the U.S. was an estimated $2.4 trillion in 2008, an average of $7,868 per person. The share of the economy (GDP) devoted to national health spending has increased from 7.2 percent in 1970 to an estimated 16.6 percent in 2008. This level of spending cannot be sustained.

Historically, the focus of reimbursement has been toward acute care encounters with limited resources for wellness, prevention and maintenance for those with chronic diseases, and no incentives for providers to coordinate care and work together to provide the best outcomes for patients. The system forces U.S. citizens to illness before there is reimbursement, resulting in the provision of more intense services and institutional care.

Healthcare costs threaten the international competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers which now spend more than twice as much for healthcare benefits than their foreign trading partners.

Nearly 47 million Americans lack health insurance. Research clearly documents this lack of coverage impacts access to health care and, ultimately, health outcomes. The high number of uninsured also creates a system of cost shifting where those with private insurance subsidize the costs that providers incur caring for those who cannot pay.