August 2012: Health, a Big Problem in PR

Health in Puerto Rico faces several challenges. These come from social and economic factors, such as, an ageing population, a growing number of uninsured persons, soaring health expenses, high healthcare inflation, dependence on federal transfers, a growing shortage of health practitioners exiting the Island, and alarming health indicators and high behavioral risk factors. To complicate matters, the Island’s economy is just not growing and not generating the badly needed jobs to pay for health and other expenses. Programs such as Medicare and Medicaid that started in 1965 have experienced rising growth of spending to the point of threatening their sustainability. Despite billions, health in PR needs improvement. Will benefits have to be curtailed or Medicare providers will have to innovate to reduce costs. This is the question that Obamacare attempts to address.