[originaltext] (29)The United States has 7000 hospitals. These hospitals car

(29)The United States has 7000 hospitals. These hospitals care for 40 million patients each year. The United States has 4000000 doctors. These doctors take care of the American people. (30)Most of these doctors are in private practice. This means that the patient pays for the doctor’s service. Health care is not provided by the government in the United States. The individual must pay. Modern medical bills are very costly. They are often beyond the capability of the individual patient to pay. (31)As a result, the American health system has some government help, many kinds of health insurance plans and individual payment. As a result, the American health care system is a mess.
    (32)An American who does not have health insurance is taking a great risk If he is suddenly hospitalized, he’ll find that the bill will be large. Most companies pay some or all of their employees’ health insurance. This helps the individual worker enormously. However, most health insurance has a limit. That is, after the patient has been sick for a while, his insurance may run out. Then the individual is responsible for the medical bills again. Health insurance is very complicated. The person may feel secure that his health insurance will pay the bills. After he becomes iii, he finds that the insurance only covers some of the costs. It is quite a shock tO the patient.