U.S. Health System: High on Spending, Low on Return
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The latest survey of the U.S. health care system--this one from the Commonwealth Fund--has concluded that among industrialized nations, this country spends the most and gives its patients the least, reports NPR. Both patients and doctors were surveyed, and nations were assessed by the following criteria: quality, access, efficiency, quality and length of life, equity and amount spent on care per person.
Coming in at number one for access and equity, and number two for quality of care, was the Netherlands. The Dutch enjoy universal health care coverage through an individual insurance mandate not unlike the legislation just passed in the United States.
The U.S., by contrast, was last in every category except quality, where it was second to last, squeaking in ahead of Canada. At $7,290 in annual spending per person in 2007, the U.S. also dwarfed second-place Canada at $3,895 and third-place Netherlands at $3,837.
About the only good news for America, said Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis, who was also the study's lead author, is that the new health law could put the U.S. on a path towards improvement.
(Photo credit: vitualis; C.C. 2.0)
