( The US is entering a healthcare crisis...)US Confronted by a Major Healthcare Crisis, Say Critics,Health

The US is entering a healthcare crisis, many activists are warning. It has one of the poorest health profiles in the developed world,// it has been assessed. Around 46 million in that country people do not have health insurance because they cannot afford it.

Drug prices, health insurance, doctor visits and hospital stays are too expensive for many people to afford, while insurance and drug company profits continue to climb.

While the profits of pharmaceutical giants continue to soar, healthcare is bankrupting even well-to-do U.S. citizens.

Also to be noted is that the country has a high rate of untreated diabetes and high blood pressure, which fall disproportionately on African Americans.

"The reason our health system is so crazy is we treat healthcare as a commodity. That really doesn't work. Most countries see it as part of their job to take care of their people," points out Meizhu Lui, executive director of United for a Fair Economy, a prominent non-governmental organization.

The U.S. system is mostly privatized, which means that individuals alone or through their employers must buy their healthcare and health insurance on the open market.

Prices of many health services have soared in recent years, and today individuals and the government spend 2.3 trillion dollars annually to purchase health insurance, doctor visits, medicines, hospital stays and special tests, according to Families USA, a health advocacy group.

The U.S. system today has created strange incentives, so that high-tech care is abundant for those who can pay for it, while preventive care, like annual checkups, is not encouraged, critics charge.

Also healthcare companies wield tremendous political power, Lui noted.

For years, health activists, organizations of the elderly and labor unions have tried to convince Congress to allow citizens and the government to negotiate bulk prices for drugs or to purchase the
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