PNHP Video text footnotes

 

Some Americans think we have the best health care system in the world.

 

And though we do have great doctors and great hospitals, when we need to see one of those doctors, or go to the hospital, our system is one of the worst.

 

Even though we spend double what other countries spend per person[1], our health care system misses many people when they need it most.

 

When the World Health Organization rated international health care systems, the U.S. came in 37^th, behind Morocco[2].  For life expectancy: the US ranks 29^th, behind Bosnia[3]. Infant mortality? We’re 41^st[4].

 

The difference? Every modern nation except the U.S. has national health insurance that covers everyone, job or[5] no job. But Americans have handed over control of our system to the for-profit health insurance industry, a business built on making money by denying us care.

 

Meanwhile, private insurers keep jacking up rates and increasing their profits[6]. The more the insurers say no to treatment, the more money they make. That’s why more than a million Americans go bankrupt every year from medical costs—even though they had health insurance when they first got sick[7].

 

In 2006, William McGuire. CEO of UnitedHealth Group, the largest private insurer, received stock options valued at more than $1.8 billion[8]; triple the recent cash-out of the CEO of Exxon[9].

 

McGuire averaged over $150 million a year[10], enough to run 75 health clinics serving tens of thousands of people[11].

 

Our sick system restricts our choice of doctors, and the care that those doctors recommend. It allows profit-hungry health insurance companies to decide who gets treated and how. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

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