The list of US health care challenges is long

February 15 10:12 2018 by ushadmin

If Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos and Jamie Dimon want to improve the U.S. health care system, here’s a list for starters, according to health care watchers, experts and government statistics:

» Cost: Spending is due to consume 20 percent of the U.S. economy by 2025; already, it’s twice as much per person as the average of other developed countries.

» Mistakes: Medical errors may account for 30 percent of overall costs.

» Unnecessary care: Extra tests, futile end-of-life treatments, misdiagnoses and quackery all can drive up costs.

» Malpractice abuse: Excess court settlements can lead to medical treatments aimed at preventing court judgments, not healing.

» Uninsured people: 28 million.

» Demographics: About 11,000 people a day switch to Medicare, which pays only part of health care costs; the rest is shifted to people with private insurance. Older people also use more health care services.

» Transparency: Consumers usually can’t find prices and can’t find out who provides the best care, what treatments are the most effective and what medications work best.

» Pharmaceuticals: Generic drugs are cheaper and may be as effective, but marketing and other pressures can lead people to choose more expensive medications.

» Access: People in isolated communities can face delays and a lack of certain treatments or specialists.

» Regulation: Health care providers face a morass of sometimes-conflicting state and federal rules, while some aspects lack sensible regulation.

» Primary care doctors: They’re key to good health care but often are paid much less than specialists…