We have unprecedented national debt and our annual budget deficit is over a trillion dollars. Health care expense is nearly 18% of our gross domestic product. Health insurance premiums continue to rise. There were approximately fifty million uninsured in 2010. The new health care law will decrease the number of uninsured but it does not reduce the cost. Increase in health care expense continues to put additional strain on the system. Hospital care, especially intensive care, is very expensive. The cost of premature birth is estimated to cost over 26 billion dollars a year. Unless we reform the system and reduce the cost of health care, we will face dramatic changes in the delivery of health care with far more adverse consequences than what we face today.
Keywords: Access, Outcome, Cost, Consumer satisfaction, Infant mortality rate, Medicaid, Medicare, Uninsured, Health insurance, Consumer price index, Hospital care, Prematurity, Late preterm infants, Electronic medical record, Defensive medicine, Administrative cost, Waste and fraud.
