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Show League to discuss financing of quality health care in U.S. Ine delivery and financing of quality health care in the United States is one of the most challenging challeng-ing public policy issues for the 1990s. The Davis County League of Women Voters will hold its first meeting on this subject June 25, 7 p.m. at Servus Drug in Bountiful. This meeting, open to the public, will provide an overview on various aspects of the delivery and financing financ-ing of health care in the United States. The League of Women Voters of the United States gave direction at its 1990 convention to begin a two-year two-year study to outline its role in determining de-termining the future of health care in the United States. The U.S. spends approximately 12 percent of its gross national product pro-duct (GNP) on health care, projected pro-jected to increase to 15 percent by the year 2000. This is the most expensive ex-pensive system for delivery and financing fi-nancing of health care services in the industrialized world, providing some of the most advanced medical technology in the world. In spite of the amount Americans spend on health care, the U.S. infant mortality rate is one of the highest among the industrialized countries of the world. According to the American College of Physicians, administrative costs absorb 22 percent per-cent of personal health care spending. Estimates reveal that there are 13-17 million Americans who have no medical insurance and many of them cannot afford to seek necessary medical treatment. Delay of treatment can lead to serious illness il-lness and expensive medical intervention, in-tervention, the cost of which must be borne ultimately by the entire society. Medicare now costs $ 1 05.4 billion a year, yet it pays less than half of the health care costs for Americans over age 65. Combined Medicaid expenditures (federal and state) were $61 billion in 1989 and are expected to be higher in 1990. In 1990, Medicaid covered only 38 percent of the nation's poor. Because health care programs evolved in a piecemeal manner in the United States, the delivery and financing system is fragmented and complex. Many services are duplicated; many are not available in some areas or for some segments of the population. Public programs to finance health care vary from state to state. |