Diversité et égalité en matière de santé et de soins Libre accès

Abstrait

Main Reasons Why the U.S. Health Care System So Expensive

Rafael Yanushevsky*

Health care is among the most important issues for Americans since the U.S. health care system is the most expensive in the world. Public spending, including governmental spending, social health insurance, and compulsory private insurance constitutes the largest source of health care spending. The U.S. spends on health care nearly twice as much as the average country of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Politicians like to talk about health care of equal quality for all population. Unfortunately, this had never been in the past, and it is unrealistically to expect in the future. Now rich persons, members of the U.S. Congress, and federal government employees have better health insurance than many retirees. Not all doctors accept patients with Medicare or Medicate, since these insurances are not good sources of revenue. For the same reason, old Americans should wait at least a week for officebased medical appointments. That is why the described above possible way to improve the existing health care system can be efficient. Many people, especially young, do not need the highest quality physicians to treat them, and they can wait a week to get appointment. If the country has 8.8 percent of people without health insurance coverage and the insurance prices are high, the compromised approach is more realistic that empty proposals of politicians.

The country with the 27 trillion national debt, which exceeds it’s GDP, and with spending on health care almost 18 percent of its GDP cannot spend on health care more. The United States economic health does not allow doing that.