Improving Medicaid as Part of Building on the Current System to Achieve Universal Coverage

The U.S. health care system suffers from a number of problems. Almost 46 million individuals were uninsured in 2007, an increase of 6 million people since 2001. Employer-based coverage, the primary source of health insurance across the nation, continues to erode. Costs continue to rise and bear primary responsibility for the nation’s bleak long-term fiscal outlook. While the United States spends more on health care than any other country, it falls short of other industrialized nations on key dimensions of care such as quality, access, and efficiency.