Since 2001, Gallup has been polling patients regarding their views on the quality of the US healthcare system. The findings of the most recent poll, released in December 2024, suggest that the system is in need of serious attention. Only 44 percent of those polled rated the US healthcare quality as “excellent” or “good,” marking the lowest rating ever and the fourth year in a row that the rating has declined.
While the opinions captured by the Gallup poll are troubling, they aren’t the worst news to surface about the US healthcare system in recent months. A study conducted by the Commonwealth Fund, released in September 2024, shows that US patients’ opinions are proven right by the actual outcomes of the US system. The study found the US has the worst-performing health system of the world’s high-income countries, despite the fact that it spends more money per capita than any of the other countries.
Essentially, the US healthcare system is failing, patients are feeling it, and the nation’s overall health is declining as a result. To turn things around, the following issues will need to be addressed.
High healthcare costs are a top patient frustration
US patients are quick to complain that their healthcare costs are high, and statistics show their complaints are well-founded. Another recent Gallup poll found that 35 percent of Americans report they cannot access quality, affordable healthcare. Gallup also found 11 percent of US patients, or 29 million people, are considered “cost desperate” when it comes to healthcare, which indicates they “lack access to quality, affordable care and have recently been unable to pay for needed care and medicine.”
Statistics provided by the American Medical Association in April 2025 show that increases in health spending hit a 20-year high in 2023, when it rose by 7.5 percent to $14,570 per capita. Hospital care, physician services, and prescription drugs were among the top spending categories, accounting for more than 50 percent of the total.
Experts recommend a number of steps for getting healthcare costs under control, ranging from government intervention in drug pricing to increased transparency in healthcare pricing. For patients, leveraging telehealth and other technology tools may be the key to gaining better control of their health and reducing healthcare costs.
Lack of accessibility discourages patients from seeking needed care
While cost concerns contribute to accessibility by discouraging patients from seeking medical care, it’s not the only factor impacting the lack of accessibility that patients report. Even those who can pay for care say they struggle with getting access to a doctor.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the average wait time to secure a new-patient appointment is almost 30 days. A report by the Association of Health Care Journalists showed that wait times in certain cities could be much higher. In Boston, for example, the average wait time was 70 days.
Most experts attribute accessibility issues to a growing shortage of doctors, with reports anticipating a shortage of as many as 86,000 physicians by 2036. Among specialists, shortages are said to be especially acute.
Some doctors, however, say changes in the healthcare systems are driving their lack of availability. The shift to electronic records, for example, has increased the amount of work doctors must do as well as the complexity of that work.
The growth of telehealth could also contribute to better accessibility. Patients without specialists in their area can use telehealth platforms to connect with care virtually anywhere in the world. Normalizing telehealth can also reduce the need for in-office patient care related to minor issues, freeing physicians to make more time available for patient onboarding and those with more severe needs.
An aging population adds more stress to a flagging system
The US is experiencing a demographic shift that is adding considerable stress to its healthcare system. Statistics show that the US population is older than it’s ever been and will continue to trend older over the next few decades. By 2050, Americans 65 and older are projected to represent nearly 25 percent of the population.
The shift toward an older population introduces two troubling issues to the healthcare system. First, doctors are retiring and, as mentioned earlier, they are not being replaced. Second, an older population requires more care. Essentially, the US has entered a season where healthcare demand is rapidly outpacing healthcare supply.
To make matters worse, studies show aging Americans, represented primarily by the Baby Boomer generation, are living longer but suffering more long-term health issues than previous generations. The implication is that older Americans will need greater care for more extended periods.
A key fix for this issue is finding ways to encourage aging Americans to prioritize their health. Technology that can empower patients to track their health, understand its implications, and tap into programs that promote better practices could help to keep them out of doctors’ offices.
Studies clearly show that the effectiveness of the US healthcare industry is on the decline. Patient needs and expectations have shifted, and the industry has not kept up. Improving the system’s overall performance, and consequently the nation’s overall health, will require steps to increase affordability, accessibility, and patient empowerment.
Marcus Soori
Marcus Soori, Founder and CEO of O/D Vision, is the inventor of Tricorder.Zero™, a fully integrated, touchscreen seven-sensor health and fitness tracker that can be used for personal health and fitness monitoring and in connected telehealth. Soori developed the initial idea for the device in medical school in 2013 and refined the idea over the next eight years as technology advanced. In 2021, he began developing his prototype and secured patent-pending status on 12+ novel concepts related to his invention in 2022. In 2023, he completed his first working Tricorder.Zero™ prototype. The device is now available for pre-order.
