A profile of the health sector in the United States.

The health sector in the US is almost equally divided between public and private sector programmes in terms of spending, and both sectors are facing significant pressures for change. This paper provides an overview of the sectors today and the populations they serve, explores the challenges they are experiencing, and identifies options for changes that move toward a more consumer-focused system that responds to the discipline of the marketplace rather than to bureaucratic rules and regulations. The changes we explore can not only help establish foundations for the US to embrace and facilitate the great progress in medicine that will certainly come over the next decade and beyond, but may also provide ideas for other nations facing similar challenges with their own healthcare systems.