Health Care Wastage: An Affliction On Our Nation's Health and Our Planet!

Abstract

Features| June 2023 Health Care Wastage: An Affliction On Our Nation's Health and Our Planet! Lalitha Sundararaman, MBBS, MD Lalitha Sundararaman, MBBS, MD Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar ASA Monitor June 2023, Vol. 87, 18–19. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.ASM.0000938812.15025.c4 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Cite Icon Cite Get Permissions Search Site Citation Lalitha Sundararaman; Health Care Wastage: An Affliction On Our Nation's Health and Our Planet!. ASA Monitor 2023; 87:18–19 doi: https://doi.org/10.1097/01.ASM.0000938812.15025.c4 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll PublicationsASA Monitor Search Advanced Search Topics: automobiles, carbon, developed countries, economics, health care sector, health care systems, health expenditures, health personnel, india, infections Health care expenditure (HCE) in the United States stands at around $4.3 trillion annually – about 18% of its gross domestic product (GDP) (JAMA 2019;322:1501-9). A study in JAMA revealed a startling fact about this remarkable number – that nearly 20%-30% of it is wasteful (JAMA 2019;322:1501-9). This amount is more than the GDP of Norway and Portugal combined! (asamonitor.pub/3UJc6yA). Just the wastage alone could have funded the entire government Medicare program and even exceeds national military spending and the sum total of primary and secondary education spending. America ranks #1 worldwide in HCE. Our national per-capita HCE is $12,914, more than twice that of the average of the next 10 developed countries on the list (asamonitor.pub/3AafQ2I). Sadly, however, we do not even rank in the top 10 of high-performing health care systems in the world, with Norway leading the list (... You do not currently have access to this content.