Which three trillion dollar industry in the US screwed up?

John Doerr: Ideas are easy, execution is everything.

Healthcare in the United States is a massive industry, worth over three trillion dollars. To put that into perspective, consider how much attention is given to online advertising, which is a global industry worth two hundred and fifty billion dollars. This means that healthcare in the US is over ten times larger than online advertising. In fact, if US healthcare were a country, it would be the fifth largest country in the world, larger than all of France's gross domestic product. However, despite its size, about one-third of the industry's spending is wasted. This amounts to a trillion dollars that could be saved if unnecessary utilization, mistakes, and errors were eliminated. It's important to note that healthcare in the US does not demonstrate better outcomes than other countries.

About the author John Doerr is an engineer, acclaimed venture capitalist, and the chairman of Kleiner Perkins.

John was an original investor and board member at Google and Amazon, helping to create more than half a million jobs and the world’s second and third most valuable companies.