The Quality of American Health Care: Can We Do Better?

Not long ago, we asked our Harkness Fellows&#8212health care experts visiting the United States from the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand&#8212how the American health care system compares with their own. Uniformly, they replied that although our specialty care has much to commend it, they would strongly prefer to be cared for at home if they became ill. In their view, health care in the United States is hard to navigate, poorly coordinated, expensive, and lacking in attention to basic primary care services.