TIME Magazine content is available exclusively for TIME subscribers.

Current subscribers for full access. Not a TIME subscriber? .

Medicine: Health Care: Supply, Demand and Politics

IF gross medical resources alone guaranteed physical wellbeing, Americans would be the healthiest people in the world. The U.S. has more than 7,000 hospitals, many of them with the most advanced and elaborate equipment available anywhere. The nation's 330,000 doctors, one for every 650 people, are the products of the most rigorous training. In sheer dollar terms, health has become the second largest industry in the U.S., last year turning over $67.2 billion, or 6.9% of the G.N.P.

But this vast expenditure, $324 per capita annually, does not ensure a high level of...

Time.com on Digg

POWERED BY digg

Quotes of the Day »

DAVID CAMERON, British Prime Minister, on England's soccer manager, Fabio Capello, who resigned after challenging the FA's decision to strip John Terry of the captaincy; Terry denies a charge of racially abusing QPR's Anton Ferdinand
For use in rail of Articles page or Section Fronts pages. Duplicate and change name as necesssary to distinguish.