#441 Health Care in Crisis

More than 41 million Americans have no health insurance. What impact does that have on the health care system? Hospitals are absorbing huge costs in caring for the uninsured. How does that affect everyone else’s expenses? Small businesses have difficulty paying ever-increasing premiums for their employees’ health care. More and more companies are cutting back on coverage. As people lose health care benefits they may cut back on preventive visits to health professionals. What is the significance for the long term? Our guest, Marcia Angell, MD, has been observing American medicine first hand for decades. She was formerly editor-in-chief of the most prestigious medical journal in the world, The New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Angell will help us explore possible ways out of the current health care mess.