“No one knows what they pay for their health care
services. No one knows cost or quality … We don't have any
reason to care financially.”
— HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt (left, explaining the
benefits of health information technology during a demonstration)
speaking to doctors attending training at the Medical Society of
Virginia in Richmond. Leavitt said there are many ideas on how to
solve out-of-control costs and the fragmented nature of the U.S.
health care system, but consensus has developed on the need for
more openness on price and quality of medical services and for
integrated electronic medical records and compatible billing
programs.
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch
$206 The average cost per day ($75,190 per year) of a private room in a nursing home in the U.S.
Source: MetLife Mature Market Institute
6 in 10 Americans rate the health care system as fair (28 percent) or poor (31 percent). In 1998, only 15 percent rated the system as poor.
Source: Employee Benefit Research Institute
$200,000 Estimated amount a 65-year-old couple retiring now will need to cover medical costs in retirement — assuming they do not have employer-sponsored retiree health care — a 5.3 percent increase from last year.
Source: Fidelity Investments
“The [health care] system is out of control, it's
unstable, it's basically bankrupt, it gets worse each year and all
we do is tinker around the edges when what we need are major
fixes.”
— Intel Corp. Chairman Craig Barrett, speaking at the
Health Information Technology Summit in September. Barrett, the
industry and technology representative on HHS' America's Health
Information Community advisory board, recommended that corporate
America exert its power to force the health care industry to
compete for business and adopt innovations like standardized,
electronic medical records.
Source: Associated Press
People ages 55 and older who are living in poverty are more likely to have disabilities that limit routine physical activities than those with higher incomes.
Source: The New England Journal of Medicine
4.4% Percentage of improper Medicare claims payments in 2006, down from 5.2% in 2005.
Source: CMS
