Posted on 03/03/2009 10:31:18 AM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States has one of the world's most advanced but also most complicated health care systems, plagued by widespread waste and costs that have escalated as the US population ages, experts say.
Venturing where others have failed, President Barack Obama is now proposing to spend 634 billion dollars on reforms aimed at expanding health care coverage among the nearly 46 million uninsured Americans.
How he should do it -- and whether it should be done at all -- are likely to be the subject of fierce debate. But, in the words of one economist, the system he inherits is "an administrative monstrosity."
...
Following are some aspects of the system revealed in a review of the scientific literature by the Rand Corp., a non-partisan think tank, and posted on the website www.randcompare.org.
First, Americans are living longer but two of every three are overweight or obese, one in 10 have diabetes, and about a quarter of the population between the ages of 45 and 54 suffer from hypertension.
More than half are covered by insurance provided by their employers, but it is not required and the quality of coverage varies widely. Nearly 16 percent of Americans have no insurance at all.
Meanwhile, US spending on health care is growing faster than the economy as a whole.
It hit 2.1 trillion dollars in 2006 and was projected to reach 2.25 trillion dollars by 2007, an annual increase of 6.7 percent, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. It could reach 4.3 trillion dollars a year in a decade.
...
The federal government in 2006 covered about a third of US healthcare spending, mainly through its health insurance programs for the poor and elderly -- Medicaid and Medicare.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Well I for one am SHOCKED SHOCKED I tell ya!
Mostly government waste paid to people who defraud the system, like illegal aliens.
US Health System is plagues with useless intervention by ‘experts’ doctors say......
That’s no reason not to make it worse.
Well now I’m even MORE SHOCKED!
Naaaaahhhh. Just kidding.
It is just not illegals...there are many a legal immigrant who strive to take advantage of every benefit that this country offers, sometimes even in the midst of the requirement that they place no burden on society..
You think it is full of fraud, waste and abuse now, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Just wait till the Marxist government policies get into place.
Another ecuse to destroy the U.S. Health Care system
I can tell you where a lot of waste can be found.
Folks getting their freebies from Medicare/Medicaid!
Make folks pay $5 for a doctor visit or $1 for a prescription and you would be amazed at how much people scale back on their use of Government assistance programs.
Locally it’s mostly illegals. But I suppose you are probably right. In the past you had to show how you could earn your way before you got in the door.
All the more reason to nationalize it, and make the motherlode of all out-of-control gubment waste.
You can’t believe how much is wasted in order to comply with government regulations. You wouldn’t believe how many health care customers never pay.
The single factor that has been driving up health care costs in America, the most, has been the increased Federal involvement since the 1940s. At the end of World War II, the total health care bill was less than 5% of GDP. Then came increased Welfare, followed by Medicare & Medicaid under LBJ, and the upward trajectory was on in earnest.
I wonder what the people of the world who come here for treatment will be saying after Obama destroys our system here.
Leftists are filled with such mindless hatred, this country needs a lot of psychiatric hospitals for them, too.
You say health care is costly, complicated and full of waste? Does anyone think having the government play an even larger role with really help?
And the government is going to help???
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