Features
Notable & Quotable
“Health care reform is no longer just a moral imperative, it is a fiscal imperative. If we want to create jobs and rebuild our economy, then we must address the crushing cost of health care this year, in this administration. This time, there is no debate about whether all Americans should have quality, affordable health care — the only question is, how?”
— President Barack Obama at the White House Forum on Health Reform March 5, speaking to roughly 120 experts about how the nation's current costly and inefficient health care system is dragging down the ailing U.S. economy.
2020
By this year, there will be a projected nationwide physician
shortage of between 51,000 and 228,000.
Source: American Medical Association
$218
billion The amount diabetes cost the U.S. in 2007 in direct medical
care and indirect costs, such as lost productivity.
Source: The Associated Press/Lewin Group
30%
Patients who have a clear understanding of their after-hospital
care instructions, including how to take their medicines and when
to make follow-up appointments, are 30 percent less likely to be
readmitted or visit the emergency department than patients who
don't.
Source: Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) study
