Despite implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2014, the U.S. health care crisis continues. While coverage has been expanded, 28 million people remain uninsured, and tens of millions who have coverage are unable to afford care because of high cost-sharing requirements. Moreover, many with coverage have a sharply restricted choice of physicians and hospitals, and the corporate takeover of medical care in the United States is proceeding rapidly. This article provides a brief précis of recent data on U.S. health policy.

While efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act were narrowly defeated, grave problems in health care persist. Twenty-eight million remain uninsured, a number that is likely to increase. Millions more who have coverage cannot afford care because of high cost-sharing requirements. Meanwhile, the corporate takeover of medical care in the United States is at a gallop. This article provides a brief précis of recent data on U.S. health policy.

We present a summary of recent studies and data regarding the state of health and health care in the United States. Health care remains unaffordable to many Americans, including many with insurance. Health outcomes are stagnating or deteriorating. Police killings disproportionately target minority men. The search for profits from prescription drug companies, medical device firms, and for-profit medical providers places patients at risk. The public Medicare and Medicaid insurance programs, which increasingly subcontract with private managed care insurers, now account for the majority of private insurers’ total business. Insurance firms continue to avoid unprofitable enrollees and impose a mounting bureaucratic burden on medical providers. Meanwhile, recent polls show mounting public support for single-payer national health insurance.

We summarize recent data on health and health care in the United States. Many millions suffer financial distress due to medical bills and forego needed care because of costs. Pay-for-performance programs have failed to achieve the results promised and in some cases have backfired. Health care firms expend huge amounts on marketing that provides no benefit to patients. Millions of health care workers, particularly women of color, are so poorly paid that they live in poverty, and gender-based pay inequities remain common in the health sector. Polls continue to show strong popular support for a single-payer reform, but politicians continue to resist it.