Most people go to the hospital with the expectation that they will leave in better health than when they came in. For some people, however, that doesn't end up being the case. Under some circumstances, patients acquire an infection while receiving care.

Effective next year, consumers will be able to compare how well a hospital is doing in preventing acquired infections.

Some say that providing access to such information is setting the grounds for making patient care safer.

"Patients shouldn't have to worry about getting sicker with an infection they catch in the hospital but every year nearly two million Americans do," said Consumers Union's Safe Patient Project director Lisa McGiffert.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates healthcare-associated infections cost hospitals between $28 and $45 billion dollars per year.

There are steps that hospitals can take to help lessen patients' chances of infection. The Safe Patient Project says that a leading Johns Hopkins doctor has devised a checklist that may reduce infections by as much as two-thirds.

Hospitals which take part in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services "pay-for-reporting" program will be required to post their infection rate information online. Most hospitals participate in the program to receive higher Medicare payments.

Health care in the United States has been a major topic of discussion - and disagreement - for quite some time, and that doesn't appear to be changing any time soon.

Optimism towards health care reform seems to be dwindling. A telephone survey conducted by Rasmussen Reports found that 57 percent of respondents indicated that they think the new health care law will negatively impact the country. Slightly more think that repealing the health care law is a good idea.

Rasmussen says that is the highest percentage on record since they started tracking the public's sentiment late in March.

Notably, Republicans and unaffiliated voters tend to more strongly feel that the health care bill is bad for the country. Democrats, on the other hand, tend to feel that the new law will be beneficial and support it.

The health care law has numerous provisions aimed at making health care more accessible to all citizens. Some of the ways the government plans on doing this are expanding Medicare and prohibiting health insurance companies from denying people coverage because of a pre-existing condition.