U.S. Health Care Ranked Dead Last Compared to 10 Countries
When compared to ten other countries, which you think we would at least hold our own against, we ranked dead last when comparing health care systems and their efficacy. According to the Commonwealth Fund in their latest report “Mirror, Mirror On The Wall — 2014 Update” (PDF here), Americans are getting some of the shoddiest health care around. Is it true?
We have the most expensive health care system in the world, but it is far from the best. Consider these 10 countries that are doing a better job spending less money:
- 1. United Kingdom
- 2. Switzerland
- 3. Sweden
- 4. Australia
- 5. 6. Germany & Netherlands (tied)
- 7. 8. New Zealand & Norway (tied)
- 9. France
- 10. Canada
- 11. United States
The Commonwealth Fund report is brief – only 32 pages long – but it uses data previously compiled from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to paint a dire picture for the US healthcare system.
Read: American Health Lags Behind Other Countries – Blame the Food!
The US system of care was compared to those of other countries utilizing the following criteria:
- Effective care
- Safe care
- Coordinated care
- Patient-centered care
Despite the fact that we now have ‘universal care,’ otherwise known as Obamacare, U.S. citizens go without the care they need more often than people in 10 other countries. That means that as we spend trillions on care, several million people aren’t even being addressed. We may be effective at treating people in emergency situations, but improvement is needed overall.
Not surprising, people with means get better care than people who don’t have money. One-third or more, lower-income adults in the U.S. said they went without needed care because of costs in the past year.
The U.S. also ranks poorly in three telling factors regarding human health: mortality amenable to medical care, infant mortality, and healthy life expectancy at age 60. France, Sweden, and Switzerland far exceeded our standards in these areas.
Our efficiency scores are atrocious too. Due to our bloated administrative costs, emergency room use, and duplicate medical testing, we waste money on healthcare beaurocracy instead of providing actual care.
The bottom line is this – government run healthcare is not Universal healthcare, and this is still something that many other industrialized nations are able to provide for their people at a cost which doesn’t bankrupt their countries. As long as our government is allowed to run services that are as important as healthcare, and our government is overrun with special interests, then we are doomed to low quality care at inflated prices. It’s like ordering a fast food meal and paying a 5-star restaurant price for it, even when you are ordering your health care ala carte.
The United Kingdom Health Care system is a mess. It should not be at the top of the
list, if you research their system they have some really scary stuff going on. DailymailUK often has information on the faults of the system of which there are many. Canada is also a mess, most people who can from Canada come to the US for health care. Having said that, I can say that when the US is in deeply to the Obamacare system in a few years things will be very, very bad, you can count on it. The fact is that it’s up to us to take care of ourselves, it is more important than ever now to do so!
Jameson, you are very correct about the UK and Canada. There are numerous reports of extremely long waiting periods for medical treatment.
You’re also correct about Obamacare. Want to know how gov run healthcare will be like? Just look at what is happening within the VA health care system………
or you could look at the UK or Canadian system too.
This is where the US health care system is heading. Those who claim the present US health care system is/was bad, just wait.
Can you give links to these reports? Jameson and Jserink repeat their ideological schpiels but produce no evidence that the Canadian and British systems are unpopular. Well, here is some evidence to the contrary (from Marketwatch): http://www.marketwatch.com/story/myths-about-canada-us-health-care-debunked-2012-08-09
I have known Canadians who come across our border for quicker medical care.
DEMAND the same health care as your politicians, and then your system will get better, or at least your politicians will become afraid and at least do something.
When you go to a doctor for help and all they can do it throw yet another pill at you — something is very wrong!
It is no longer a medical system to cure. It is a system to treat, and extend your drugs, with other health cost for profit.
I call BS on this.
Canada’s health system is CRAP as are all socialised systems. The diff between Canada, the UK, NZ, etc… Is that when you are put on a waiting list for your cancer treatment (you can use the terms ‘wasting list’ and ‘universal health care’ interchangeably, they mean the same thing) you can go to a private doctor/ hospital and start treatment immediately. IN CANADA PRIVATE HEALTHCARE IS ILLEGAL. the only other country that is so is North Korea.
Government healthcare means a health system that runs with the same efficiency as the DMV. Just more unions and management levels.
Since Cancer is a curable disease, why would anyone wait in line for chemo, radiation, etc; which does not work anyway and only acerbates the problem? Weakening the immune system with this dilapidated technology, is no way to cure cancer.
There are many ways to cure cancer, and one of the best was discovered in 1935.
Do your homework, and eat a healthy, (non processed), diet.
Eleventh place as a failure and it is costing the US taxpayers the most amount of money compared to the others. !st place for costing the most, neither is nothing to be proud of.
This would all change within a month, if all the people would DEMAND to have the same health benefits as our politicians, or bring the standards of their medical care DOWN to the level as what the common people have.
you have to learn to take control of your on health care.