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.
Keywords: drug firms; for-profit health care; health insurance; health policy; insurance firms.