With all this talk about healthcare floating around, I thought showing the numbers behind our current healthcare system would make more of an impression than my opinion ever could. Read 'em and weep.
- 46 million Americans don't have health insurance. Thats 15% of the entire population!
- People who are uninsured are often charged 2.5 times more than what most health insurers actually pay for hospital services.
- The U.S spends 16% of its GDP on health care, compared to 11% in France, 8.4% in the UK and 3.4% in Singapore. That works out to $7,290 per person in the U.S. every year, $3,601 in France, $2,992 in the UK and $1,228 in Singapore.
- 62% of all bankruptcies filed in 2007 were linked to medical expenses.
- America's healthcare system was ranked 37th in the world by the World Health Organization in 2000 (the latest report).
There's no question that our healthcare system needs a change, and everyone has a different opinion on how that should be done. To see how you might be affected by the changes being discussed, visit npr.org. In the meantime, try not to injure yourself with your mad free running skillz.
--Lauren
Post new comment