Volume 45, No. 4
We have the most expensive health care system in the world, and until the ravages of the pandemic became undeniable, we could take some comfort in believing it was, at least for those with access, the “best in the world.” This characterization is no longer tenable. In the summer of 2020, with 5 percent of the world’s population, we had 25 percent of the world’s COVID-19 infections and 25 percent of the world’s deaths (more than 175,000 by August 25). And this is just the most dramatic deadly trend.