8 Out of 10 Americans Think U.S. Healthcare System Works Poorly

The results of a new survey measuring how Americans feel about the cost and effectiveness of the nation’s healthcare system is enough to make you feel sick.

Virtually everyone – 94 percent of respondents – said healthcare costs are a threat to their personal financial security, while 80 percent said the United States healthcare system works poorly, according to a new survey released today by Deloitte Center for Health Solutions.

Survey respondents used words like “wasteful, inefficient, complex and expensive” to describe the way they get their healthcare, according to the survey’s sponsors.

If President Barack Obama is going to follow through on his campaign promises to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system, now’s as good a time as any to get started. The most recent poll results show growing distrust of a system that spends more money but ranks last among 19 industrialized nations in terms of quality, efficiency, and outcomes.

Survey Finds People Fearful, Unsatisfied

More than 4,000 people were surveyed and asked a variety of questions about their healthcare costs. About 53 percent of respondents want employers to be required to provide health insurance, while 37 percent said they support requiring all Americans to get health insurance one way or another.

The survey also found that 43 percent of people quizzed oppose raising taxes to help cover the 46 million Americans who do not have health insurance.

Using technology to improve healthcare appears to be a priority for many survey participants. About 55 percent said they want the ability to communicate with their doctors via e-mail to exchange health information and get answers to questions, while 68 percent said they favor in-home monitoring devices that allow them to keep tabs on their own conditions and send the results to their doctor.

Many people felt the current healthcare system is wasteful, with more than half believe that most dollars spent on health care in the United States are wasted, according to the survey authors.

Barely half of people said they are satisfied with their own insurance, but 70 percent of Medicare patients reported being satisfied with their coverage. Less than half, about 45 percent, of people were satisfied with their private insurance coverage.

A Wake Up Call

Yet another survey finds Americans are not happy with their healthcare coverage, and we continue to wonder when national leaders will get the clue. For decades, the nation’s health coverage has slid downward, sacrificing quality of coverage while charging more than other industrialized nations. The system is broken and while we didn’t need another survey to tell us, it’s just more evidence that urgent reform is needed.

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