The health system is hospital focused

Health care in the United States is the world’s most expensive, yet America’s health outcomes are poor with the highest rate of deaths amenable to health care per 100,000 population of 19 countries studied, with a rate not quite twice that of France, even though France spends roughly half of what the US does on health care. Unlike Britain and many Commonwealth countries, there has never been a focus on primary care and there is a major gap between the number of primary care providers and the number that would be needed to deliver primary care to the full population.^[1] The World Health Organization’s recommendation for pandemic response is based upon a strong public health and primary care response.^[2] Delaying disease spread is the only way a country’s health system won’t be overwhelmed.^[1] Americans with insurance are used to a high-tech health care response rather than a public health measure like washing hands. This meant that the Washington State long term care facility where the first cluster of cases occurred, responded by admitting the people to hospital which ensured the virus was spread amongst sick and vulnerable people as quickly as possible.

[p1} The health care system in the USA is hospital focussed [p2] this is to the detriment to primary care, which is what is needed for a flu pandemic