Transformational Change: A Ten-Point Strategy to Achieve Better Health Care for All

President's Message from 2004 Annual Report

The United States spends more than any other nation on health care—well over twice the per capita average among industrialized nations. Health expenditures have grown from $1.3 trillion in 2000 to $1.7 trillion in 2003, and the portion of gross domestic product consumed by the health sector over that period has increased from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent. Yet it is increasingly clear that our money is not buying the best achievable care. In her 2004 Annual Report Message, Commonwealth Fund president Karen Davis, Ph.D., lays out a detailed plan to transform the system to achieve "commensurate value for what we spend on health care."