By 2010 , colleagues in the U . S . healthcare industry expressed worry . Reports from highly respected sources exposed issues around patient safety and miscalculations , highlighting the industry ’ s many problems ( IOM , 2000 ).
Death rates from medical errors were compared in volume to a commercial airliner crashing every day ( Kapur et al ., 2016 ). Clinicians and administrators heard from patients about the affordability and quality of care . While the U . S . had the highest healthcare costs per capita of any nation in the developed world , outcomes were among the lowest ( Kurani and Cox , 2020 ).
It had gotten so bad , many consumers believed that paying for care was worse than the illness itself . As the following data shows , a significant portion of the U . S . population was skipping needed care because they could not afford it .
Question : In the past 12 months , how often have you done any of the following because of cost ?
• Didn ’ t go to the doctor when you were sick or injured 44 %
• Skipped a recommended medical test or treatment 40 %
• Not filled a prescription or taken less than the 32 % prescribed dose of medicine
Source : University of Chicago and West Health Institute , Mar . 26 , 2018
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