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Source: Reuters
The US Congress is preparing to overhaul the United States'
troubled healthcare system and President Barack Obama hopes to sign
legislation before the end of the year.
Here are some facts about healthcare in the United
States:
- US government economists predict that public and private health spending will hit $4 trillion this year, taking up a 17.6% share of gross domestic product.
- Americans spend more per capita on healthcare than any other country at US$7,421 per person, the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reports. Yet studies suggest Americans get poorer care than people in other industrialized countries that have national healthcare plans.
- Private insurance pays 35% of this; Medicare, the federal health plan for the elderly and disabled, pays 19%; Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program pays 15%; 12% comes from other public funds; seven percent from other private sources, and 12% is paid out-of-pocket by patients.
- The US Census Bureau says 46 million Americans, or 15% of the population, have no health insurance.
- About 63% of US employers offer health benefits to workers, according to the Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation. Those who work at large companies are much more likely than those who work at small businesses to have health coverage. The self-employed must typically pay much more for coverage than those who get insurance through an employer.
- Growth in health-insurance premiums has outpaced workers' earnings and inflation since 2004 by a ratio of 4 to 1, according to the Kaiser Foundation. Employers on average pay about 75% of that cost.
- Obama says he wants to cover more of these Americans but has not indicated how. Options include expanding Medicare and Medicaid, creating a public insurance pool, tax breaks for employers to offer coverage and requiring insurance companies to cover more people.
