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 (...
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June 2023
Health Care Wastage: An Affliction On Our Nation's Health and Our Planet!
Lalitha Sundararaman, MBBS, MD
Lalitha Sundararaman, MBBS, MD
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ASA Monitor June 2023, Vol. 87, 18–19.
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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
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