The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care

by T.R. Reid

This realization helps us answer the question:Which problem should America tackle first? The various shortcomings of the U.S. health care system can be summarized in three words: cost, coverage, and quality. When we set out to fix our system, where should we start? At first blush, it might seem logical to go after health care costs first; once costs are under control, we could more easily afford universal coverage. But everywhere I went on my global quest, I was told that this approach gets things backward. Universal coverage has to come first. Universal coverage is an essential tool to control costs and maintain the overall quality of a nation’s health. Covering everybody in a unified system creates a powerful political dynamic for managing the cost of health care. Since the costs of medical care are rising around the world, every health care system has to find ways to limit expenses—either by limiting the procedures and medications it will pay for, or by cutting the price it pays for the procedures that are covered.