Health care reform: What's wrong with 17.6% GDP?

摘要

The United States has one of the best health care systems in the world. Why do we need to reform it? Health care critics have complained about limited access, higher costs, and variable quality. What is the basis of these complaints? Access: Full access to health care is not available for many uninsured and uncovered individuals. We have all seen patients in the emergency department who have suffered because they could not obtain or afford insurance coverage for important preventative care or prescriptions. These individuals fell into the gaps and stumbled into the emergency department with expensive, late-stage disease complications. Indeed, this has been a major problem in the past. However, the recently passed Affordable Care Act (ACA) may improve access for these patients in the coming years through more comprehensive insurance and Medicaid coverage.