Skyrocketing Costs
The US spends the most money per capita on healthcare in the world1, but health outcomes such as infant mortality and life expectancy are worse than many other OECD countries. Such measures are generally an indicator of the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of a nation's healthcare services.2.
Current estimates put U.S. health care spending at approximately 15.3% of GDP. If spending increases at its current rate, this number will be 20 percent of GDP by 2017. This is not an economically sustainable model of health care funding.
1 WHO (May 2009). "World Health Statistics 2009". World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/whosis/whostat/2009/en/index.html. Accessed 09-01-2009.
2 Ochard, C. Comparing Healthcare Outcomes. BMJ, 1994; 308; 1494-1494