Wednesday, November 20, 2013

To Fix the US Healthcare System, Let's Look to the Developing World

Healthcare in the United States is a mess. In 2011, US healthcare spending reached $2.7 trillion, more than twice that of other wealthy countries, and with worse outcomes. In the United States, life expectancy is lower, infant deaths are higher, and there are fewer doctors and hospital beds available per person than other wealthy countries.

The US healthcare system is not just broken; it is highly controversial. The Affordable Care Act caused the government to shut down. And, outrage over the poor website and cancelled coverage forced President Obama to publicly apologize and backtrack on elements of his healthcare plan.

In order to fix our broken healthcare system, we need to look abroad for successful, scalable, and cost-effective solutions. Today, the most innovative healthcare models are not coming from Europe or Japan. They are coming from emerging markets. We are currently experimenting with these innovations in our healthcare system, but we need to do more.

This post originally appeared in the Huffington Post. To keep reading, click here.

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