STUDY INDICTS U.S. HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine finds that medical patients in the U.S. receive the recommended care only 55% of the time. And no segment of the population is exempted from this poor standard of service.

The RAND study's authors stated that a well-functioning health care system should provide recommended levels of care 80 to 90 percent of the time. Interestingly (in view of the conservative argument that privatization trumps government services every time), VA patients get proper recommended care about 66 percent of the time.

Tags: U.S. health care system