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Monday, October 29, 2012

PBS: "Waste in U.S. Health Care: Your First-Hand Accounts"

Read the full transcript here. 


October 26, 2012 
According to the Institute of Medicine, about 30 percent of U.S. health care spending (about $750 billion) was wasted in 2009 on unnecessary services, excessive administrative costs, fraud and other problems.
It's a problem that touches nearly every American in every state, each time they interact with the health care system. That's why we wanted to hear from the experts: you. (More on that below). But first, a little background.
On air and online this week, the NewsHour has examined why health care in the U.S. costs 2.5 times more than most other developed countries,how hospitals and patients can make personal health care cheaper, and what the U.S. could buy with the money wasted in the health care system.
If you missed it, watch health correspondent Betty Ann Bowser's report on how one medical center in Seattle has become "waste neutral," eliminating everything from unnecessary procedures to waiting rooms:
Now, we're turning it over to you to do a little reporting. With the help of thePublic Insight Network, the NewsHour asked Americans to share their first-hand accounts of the waste they've seen in U.S. health care system and what they think could be done to fix it.
This is just a start. We want to hear from you, too. If you have a story to add, please share it in the comments section below.
Read some of their responses below. (Entries are first-person accounts. There claims were not verified by the PBS NewsHour. We also were not able to obtain explanations or statements from a doctor or hospital connected with any of these accounts.)
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