Healthcare is the largest industry in the United States. The national expenditure is estimated to be $2.17 trillion in 2006, about 16.5 percent of gross domestic product, and is expected to exceed $4 trillion, or 20 percent of GDP,by 2015.rnAlthough the expenditure per capita on healthcare in the U.S. is higher than in any other country, the current U.S. healthcare system cannot be sustained, and major improvements are needed. Lives unnecessarily lost each year in the U.S. due to medical errors are estimated to be as high as 98,000 and injuries over a million. An estimated 30 to 40 percent of healthcare expenditures go to inefficiencies involving duplication, system failures, unnecessary repetition, and poor communication.
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