Health care in the United States is too expensive, and because it is too expensive, a large number of Americans do not have access to it. The story that is not being told in the national debate about health care reform is what exactly costs too much, and how to remedy the situation. Unnecessary costs directly related to the practice of medicine are only a portion of the waste, but the magnitude of this kind of expenditure may be huge. Saving a fraction of this money could make it possible to give health care to everyone who needs it, withhitout any negative impact on our national budget. The schedule below is a reasonable scenario of what happens in many primary care offices. The costs are inexact, but within range. The major causes for this waste are pretty easy to remediate: 1. primary care doctors don’t spend enough time with patients because they are underpaid for counseling. 2. Providers and patients don’t know what things cost. 3. Doctors are afraid of being sued for malprac...
The cost of health care in the US is higher than anywhere else in the world, and yet we are not healthier than our peer nations. In fact, in terms of such measures as infant mortality and life span, we don't measure up. Why is this? Many people involved in providing or receiving care have some pretty good ideas about what costs so much, and what we can do to reduce costs and improve quality. Sharing these stories is an important step in creating affordable universal health care.