tags: health care, medicine, health insurance
America has the best health care in the world? Think again. This should come as no surprise to anyone, but according to two different studies that were published recently, Americans have the poorest health care among all the richest nations on earth. According to the two studies funded by the Commonwealth Fund, even though the US has the most expensive health system in the world, it consistently underperforms those of other countries and the biggest difference is because Americans have no universal health insurance coverage.
Also according to one of these studies, the US ranked last in most areas surveyed, including access to health care, patient safety, timeliness of care, efficiency and equity. Worse, 45 million Americans, or 15 percent of the US population (alas, including me), have no health insurance at all.
Britain was ranked highest among the countries in the study, followed by Germany. New Zealand and Australia tied for third followed by Canada and the United States.
"The United States stands out as the only nation in these studies that does not ensure access to health care through universal coverage and promotion of a 'medical home' for patients," said Commonwealth Fund president Karen Davis.
The other study, "Multinational Comparisons of Health Systems Data," found that even though the US spends the most on publicly and privately financed health insurance, its citizens had the most potential years of life lost due to circulatory and respiratory diseases as well as diabetes.
"This study blows a lot of myths about the US health system," Davis said. "We spend three times what the average country spends on a day of hospital care and we also spend twice what the average country spends on prescription medication."
Cited story.
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