Urgent Need for Reform

Patients and their families in the United States today experience significant problems and barriers with the health care system, which, in total, present a compelling case for reform:

Availability of Care

• Rising costs of health insurance and medical care
• Personal and financial burdens
• Access barriers

Quality of Care

• Medical care not based on scientific evidence
• Inconsistent and uncoordinated care
• Disincentives created by financial reimbursement

Aging Population

• Startling projections about Medicare's growth
• Negative impacts on individuals, organizations and the nation

Further Reading

The links below will open in a new window.

Fixing America's Health Care System
Progressive Policy Institute
www.ppionline.org

Reforming the U.S. Health Care System: Where There's A Will, There Could Be A Way
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston 2005 Annual Report
www.bos.frb.org (PDF)

Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century
National Institute of Medicine
www.iom.edu

Our Broken Health Care System
David Broder
www.washingtonpost.com

Bruised and Broken: U.S. Health System
Older Americans Increasingly Face a System Coming Apart at the Seams
AARP Bulletin
www.aarp.org

Desperate Measures
The world's biggest and most expensive health-care system is beginning to fall apart. Can George Bush mend it?
www.economist.com

The Health Care Problems Archive
A Collection of Problems with the U.S. Health Care system
www.healthcareproblems.org

The Moral-Hazard Myth
The bad idea behind our failed health-care system.
by Malcolm Gladwell
www.newyorker.com