9 mind-blowing facts about the dysfunction of the American health-care system

It might not be a surprise that the American health-care system is broken, but some of the reasons why certainly are. The 90 second video above is a tour through the dysfunction, but let's break out some of the important points here, too.

America spends a lot. A whole lot.

The United States of Health Care would be a huge country.

Only the US itself, China, Japan, and Germany are larger in terms of raw GDP.

Really meditate on this: of every six dollars spent in the US economy, one goes to health care.

That health care doesn't always help. Medical errors kill huge numbers of patients. It's like 10 jumbo jets crashing every week.

The US just pays a lot more for everything.

Even when it's the exact same thing.

A lot of the money the US spends goes to stuff that doesn't seem to help anyone.

That's a lot of waste. Where does it all go?

The US spends so, so, so much on medical paperwork.

Even after Obamacare is implemented, millions of Americans still won't have health insurance.

For lots more information and all of our sources, see Sarah Kliff's great article here. She also wrote cardstacks going deeper into health-care spending and insane health-care prices.

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