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Prescription drug prices and spending are higher in the U.S. than in other industrialized nations. Here's a look at how some nations control costs while ensuring access to needed medications.
Improving the way Medicare pays for care could strengthen primary care, promote innovation and care coordination, and save $1.3 trillion systemwide.
Rising health insurance premiums and higher cost-sharing continue to strain the budgets of U.S. working families and employers. Between 2003 to 2011, premiums for family coverage increased 62 percent across states while, at the same time, deductibles more than doubled in large and small firms meaning workers are paying more but getting less-protective benefits.
More than two-thirds of U.S. primary care physicians are now using electronic medical records, up from less than half in 2009.
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By combining hospital, physician, and prescription drug coverage, the "Medicare Essential" option could save $180 billion in national health spending in the next decade while also improving care.
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Total health spending in the United States was $2.7 trillion in 2011. If that activity were separated into its own sovereign nation, it would constitute the fifth-largest economy in the world, behind only the United States, China, Japan, and Germany.
Having comprehensive health insurance is critical to people's health and financial security. Learn more about what it means to be ununsured in the United States today.
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In the early part of the 20th century, The Commonwealth Fund funded construction of desperately needed community hospitals in rural regions. A vintage infographic from 1937 illustrates how these hospitals worked.
If we had spent only as much per person on health care as Switzerland did over the past 30 years, we would have saved about $15.5 trillion. What could that $15.5 trillion dollars buy if we had it today?