Regardless of the political stripes people wear, most Americans can agree on one thing about the healthcare system: it’s broken. Regardless of your insurance, healthcare costs are through the roof, it’s hard to get an appointment with the doctors you need, and we are among theperformers in healthcare outcomes in developed countries despite outspending almost every other country. Even compared to lower-income countries, we don’t measure up well.
The problem is, however, that this didn’t happen in the way people had hoped. Some hospitals quickly pulled together resources and became certified; others didn’t. The pattern that emerged was unfortunate, although not altogether unpredictable. Hospitals in thewere about half as likely to become certified compared with hospitals in less socioeconomically deprived communities and with higher profit margins.