In your opinion...

[medical22]

what medical contemporary medical issue needs to be addressed in the US healthcare system?

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[BeckyG]

ACCESS (reasonable, that is) to health care providers. In some places in CA, it can take 2-3 weeks to get an appt with your primary care doc and 1+ month(s) to see a specialist. If you're really sick, and you can't see your doc, what do you do? Go to an urgent care center or an ER -- which costs your health insurance and you more $$ than a regular doc visit. Just my thoughts...

 

[none]

Research is severely underfunded in the public sector. There isn't enough collaboration with the private sector either.

 

[daveshnave]

HANDS DOWN... the number of uninsured and underinsured people in the US. The uninsured rate is almost 1 in 5, and the underinsured is much higher. These are predominantly middle-class Americans who make too much money for Medicaid. People simply can't afford healthcare... I could go on for days discussing this, but I'll spare you all. Suffice to say, this is the worst problem facing healthcare in America today.

 

[fishtolive]

got the stony brook secondary, huh? my buddy asked me the same question and i steered him away from straight up HMO, # of insured, access, etc as these, to me, are extremely trite examples...at least give them a little something interesting this far along...here's some of my free 2 cents ..how about the fact that in the face of impending war and terrorism where most biological warfare relies heavily on the use of small pox as its causative agent, we, as a country, have ignored its existence and assumed it was wiped out long ago...now, we are in a rough spot...no vaccine or treatment and no training for new docs on how to treat...i saw a report yesterday and they said some med schools are now scrambling to change the curriculum for clinicals to include at least some experience with "exotic" diseasees such as the once common small pox just in case this thing gets really bad...it may be interesting to consider our national arrogance towards disease (even further illustrated in our overuse iof antibiotics) and the longterm affects we rule out...maybe that was 3 cents!