Thursday, December 11, 2008, 12:23am
To get at the story of health care in the United States, look past the individual sagas you've read about in newspapers. Don't think about patients losing their homes to medical bills, or of people watching a child or spouse or parent die because they can't afford care. While you're at it, put aside the medical attention you receive, which you're generally happy with, according to most surveys. Instead, immerse yourself in the harrowing statistics: The United States spends $2.1 trillion a year on health care. More than 30 percent of that -- about $700 billion -- has nothing to do with improving people's health. Instead, it goes to administrative costs and for tests and treatments that aren't necessary. About half of all patients don't receive proper treatment. Fifty-seven million Americans struggle to pay their medical bills, and around 46 million have no health care coverage at all. A study by the Institute of Medicine found that 18,000 Americans die each year because they don't have health insurance.
If the American health care system were a patient, such vital signs would suggest that it is very sick, and that the disease is spreading to the body politic. Indeed, despite spending nearly $7,000 per person a year on health care -- around twice as much as most other developed countries -- the United States ranks 42nd in the world in life expectancy. Try reading all those numbers without focusing on one word: crisis.
"The best of the best of our health system is the best in the world," says William R. Brody, president of Johns Hopkins University, who will retire from his post at the end of the year. "But the average is not so hot. We need to do better."