Challenges facing US helath care

Assuring effective health care to a population is a challenge for every society. As care options become more complex – and expensive – the challenges increase.

In the US, both the organization and financing of health care are perennial issues in public discussions, political campaigns and among social policy researchers. Basically there are two distinct, but intimately related, concerns: providing access to care and paying for that care. There is widespread agreement that when folks are sick or injured they should receive appropriate care. Disagreements emerge, however, in deciding how to pay...