Perspectives > > Focus on Policy– The U.S. ranks badly on health care compared to other nations; perhaps we can gain from them
by David Nash, MD, MBA, FACP, Contributing Writer, MedPage Today November 29, 2024
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David Nash is the Founding Dean Emeritus and Dr. Raymond C. and Doris N. Grandon Professor of Health Policy at the Jefferson College of Population Health. He is a board-certified internist. Follow
Like numerous other health policy analysts, I frequently blog about what is broken in the U.S. health system and go over techniques for recovery it– all from a distinctly inward-looking viewpoint. Just recently, a set of posts checking out how our health system fares on an international phase ignited my interest.
It stands to factor that wealthier nations will invest more on health per individual than lower-income nations. The very first post (“How does health costs in the U.S. compare to other nations?” by Emma Wager and coworkers) exposes that, in regards to healthcare expenses, the U.S. continues to be an incredibly huge spender amongst its peer countries. In 2022, health expenses per individual in the U.S. were $12,555– about two times as much as other high-income countries invested.
This analysis compared the U.S. with comparable Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development nations (those with above typical nationwide earnings and above mean earnings per individual as determined by Gross Domestic Product [GDP] and mean GDP per capita in a minimum of among the last 10 years). It likewise exposed that the distinction in between health costs as a share of the economy in the U.S. and equivalent nations has actually broadened significantly over the previous years.
One may anticipate the highest-spending nation to have the world’s healthiest population. A current Commonwealth Fund Report by David Blumenthal and coworkers (“Mirror, Mirror 2024: A Portrait of the Failing U.S. Health System”) exposes that this could not be even more from truth.
The report compares the efficiency of health systems in 10 nations (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States) on 5 crucial domains of health system efficiency: access to care, care procedure, administrative effectiveness, equity, and health results. The report considers the effect of COVID-19 on health system efficiency, and likewise takes a look at system efficiency distinctions based upon gender, rural vs. non-rural place, and physician-reported client experience of discrimination.
The 3 leading carrying out nations are Australia, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom; the U.S. ranks an extremely frustrating last total. All 10 nations reveal strengths and weak points, and no nation is at the leading or bottom on every measurement. The authors keep in mind that even the general top-ranked nation (Australia) carries out less well on “access to care” and “care procedure” domains– and the U.S. (lowest-ranked general) ranks 2nd in the “care procedure” domain.
In the aggregate, the majority of the ranked countries are more comparable than various with regard to greater and lower efficiency in numerous domains.