ABSTRACT
Unquestionably, the U.S. healthcare system is in significant trouble. The U.S. healthcare expenditures surpassed $2.3 trillion in 2008, more than three times the $714 billion spent in 1990 and over eight times the $253 billion spent in 1980. The U.S. healthcare spending was about $7,681 per resident in 2008, accounting for 16.2% of the nation’s gross domestic product (“U.S. Health Care Costs”). This is amongst the highest of any industrialized nation (Figure 1.1). In addition, the current system is increasingly inaccessible to many individuals, including the poor and middle class, with approximately 47 million Americans currently unable to get health insurance. Even with these astounding facts, the United States pays roughly twice as much per capita for healthcare as Canada, France, and the United Kingdom, yet experiences lower life expectancy and higher infant mortalities (Noah, 2007).
