ABSTRACT
N ational health expenditures in the United States are higher and increasing faster than in any other major industrialized country. Yet despite
such high levels of spending, 38.9 million people (15.4% of the population) were uninsured at any one point during 1992; cumulatively, 58 million people (23% of the population) were uninsured at some time in 1992. In addition, health outcomes such as life expectancy and infant mortality are worse in the United States than in most industrialized countries, and they vary greatly by race, income, and education. The high level of expenditure is driven by the high availability of tests and procedures, high prices (including high incomes for doctors), high medical-specific inflation above the level of inflation in ·the general economy, and high administrative costs.
