id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentences	flesch	summary	cache	txt
cord-336161-67pumvst	Himmelstein, David U.	The U.S. Health Care System on the Eve of the Covid-19 Epidemic: A Summary of Recent Evidence on Its Impaired Performance	2020-06-30		.txt	text/plain	3980	223	59	Before the recession caused by the pandemic, tens of millions of Americans were unable to afford care, compromising their physical and financial health; deep-pocketed corporate interests were increasingly dominating the hospital industry and taking over physicians' practices; and insurers' profits hit record levels. 14 A new study finds that Veterans Health Administration (VA) patients, relative to Americans with non-VA coverage, are only about half as likely to skip a prescribed medication because of costs (6.1% vs 10.9% of others), despite VA patients having lower average incomes. A recent study indicates why the US advocacy organization Physicians for a National Health Program calls for Improved Medicare for All. Among seriously ill Medicare enrollees (i.e., those who have visited 3 or more physicians and been hospitalized at least twice in the past year), 53% had a serious problem paying a medical bill, 36% had used up all or most of their savings, 27% had been contacted by a collection agency, and 23% were unable to pay for basic necessities.	./cache/cord-336161-67pumvst.txt	./txt/cord-336161-67pumvst.txt