美国4万亿美元的医保并没有被好好利用

新冠病毒是对美国保护自己国民健康能力的一次考验，然而这个国家失败了；美国现在是世界上确诊病例和死亡人数最多的国家。美国虽然不是唯一一个抗疫失败的国家。但和别国不同的是，美国用于医疗保健的经济资源约占国内生产总值（gdp）的18%，超过其它任何其他国家。美国已经在医疗保健系统上投入了大量资金；而且纳税人、雇主和家庭每年对于健康保险的支出接近4万亿美元，这对政府、雇主和家庭来说都是一个长期的消耗。但也正因为支出比太高，使美国在应对Covid-19时暴露出的脆弱性引人注目，发生了诊断测试延迟和短缺的现象，也没有在早期病毒传播的时候及时发现并采取措施。拥有数十亿美元收入的医院没有足够口罩来保护医护人员。负责控制传染病的地方卫生部门也很快就不堪重负。比如在密尔沃基，一项联邦救济计划给科瓦利克的医疗部门拨款3500万美元用于抗击冠状病毒，这几乎是正常年度预算的两倍。这笔资金有助于招聘新的工作人员，但是重新升级医院系统、招聘和培训医疗人员需要时间，在疫情还没有爆发之前这样做比现在才临时搭建更好。

The new coronavirus was a test of America’s ability to protect the health of its people, and the country failed. The U.S. has the greatest number of confirmed cases and deaths in the world. The U.S. isn’t alone in failing to stop the coronavirus. But it is unique in how much of the nation’s economic resources are devoted to health care—about 18% of gross domestic product, more than any other country. The spending, approaching $4 trillion a year from taxpayers, employers, and households, is what makes America’s vulnerability to Covid-19 striking. The virus exposed some of the structural weaknesses in America’s approach to health care and health. Diagnostic tests, delayed and in short supply, were inadequate to detect the virus’s early spread. Hospitals with billions of dollars in revenue couldn’t secure dollar masks to protect staff. Local health departments charged with containing communicable diseases were quickly overwhelmed. In Milwaukee, a federal relief package sent Kowalik’s department a windfall: $35 million for coronavirus response, almost twice her normal annual budget. That’s helped bring on workers for contact tracing, mostly other city staff who have been furloughed from their usual roles. But it takes time to upgrade systems and hire and train workers—and it would have been better to do that before the pandemic than after.   source

指尖新闻：高信噪比，一目了然

新冠疫情追踪

这都不是新闻了，占GDP18%的医疗行业和10%的律师行业，向来都是干货挺多，水分也不少。只是近年来水分越来越多快要盖过干货了