munKNEE.com Your Key to Making Money
…The cost of basic (and not so basic) health insurance in the U.S. is BY FAR the most expensive in the world, and
certainly among its “wealthy-nation” peers, yet, while It would be logical to think that, as a result of this premium, the quality of the healthcare offered…[would be] among the best, if not the best, in the world. Unfortunately, that would be wrong and, in fact, the reality is the complete opposite.
The above comments are edited excerpts from an article* by Tyler Durden (ZeroHedge.com) entitled U.S. Health Insurance: The Most Expensive Yet Among The Worst In Developed Nations.
The following article is presented courtesy of Lorimer Wilson, editor of www.munKNEE.com and the FREE Market Intelligence Report newsletter and has been edited, abridged and/or reformatted (some sub-titles and bold/italics emphases) for the sake of clarity and brevity to ensure a fast and easy read. This paragraph must be included in any article re-posting to avoid copyright infringement.
The following article is presented courtesy of Lorimer Wilson, editor of www.munKNEE.com and the FREE Market Intelligence Report newsletter and has been edited, abridged and/or reformatted (some sub-titles and bold/italics emphases) for the sake of clarity and brevity to ensure a fast and easy read. This paragraph must be included in any article re-posting to avoid copyright infringement.
Durden goes on to say in further edited excerpts:
Click image to enlargeAs a recent study by the Commonweath Fund, looking at how the U.S. healthcare system compares internationally, finds, “the U.S. fails to achieve better health outcomes than the other countries, and as shown in the earlier editions, the U.S. is last or near last on dimensions of access, efficiency, and equity.” In other words: most expensive, yet worst in the developed world.
Click image to enlargeFrom the report:
- The United States health care system is the most expensive in the world, but this report and prior editions consistently show the U.S. underperforms relative to other countries on most dimensions of performance.
- Among the 11 nations studied in this report—Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States—the U.S. ranks last, as it did in the 2010, 2007, 2006, and 2004 editions of Mirror, Mirror.
- Most troubling, the U.S. fails to achieve better health outcomes than the other countries, and as shown in the earlier editions, the U.S. is last or near last on dimensions of access, efficiency, and equity. In this edition of Mirror, Mirror, the United Kingdom ranks first, followed closely by Switzerland (Exhibit ES-1).
Click image to enlarge- Expanding from the seven countries included in 2010, the 2014 edition includes data from 11 countries. It incorporates patients’ and physicians’ survey results on care experiences and ratings on various dimensions of care. It includes information from the most recent three Commonwealth Fund international surveys of patients and primary care physicians about medical practices and views of their countries’ health systems (2011–2013). It also includes information on health care outcomes featured in The Commonwealth Fund’s most recent (2011) national health system scorecard, and from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
- The most notable way the U.S. differs from other industrialized countries is the absence of universal health insurance coverage. Other nations ensure the accessibility of care through universal health systems and through better ties between patients and the physician practices that serve as their medical homes.
- The Affordable Care Act is increasing the number of Americans with coverage and improving access to care, though the data in this report are from years prior to the full implementation of the law. Thus, it is not surprising that the U.S. underperforms on measures of access and equity between populations with above- average and below-average incomes.
- The U.S. also ranks behind most countries on many measures of health outcomes, quality, and efficiency. U.S. physicians face particular difficulties receiving timely information, coordinating care, and dealing with administrative hassles.
- Other countries have led in the adoption of modern health information systems, but U.S. physicians and hospitals are catching up as they respond to significant financial incentives to adopt and make meaningful use of health information technology systems. Additional provisions in the Affordable Care Act will further encourage the efficient organization and delivery of health care, as well as investment in important preventive and population health measures.
- For all countries, responses indicate room for improvement yet, the other 10 countries spend considerably less on health care per person and as a percent of gross domestic product than does the United States. These findings indicate that, from the perspectives of both physicians and patients, the U.S. health care system could do much better in achieving value for the nation’s substantial investment in health.
Major Findings
- Quality: The indicators of quality were grouped into four categories: effective care, safe care, coordinated care, and patient-centered care. Compared with the other 10 countries, the U.S. fares best on provision and receipt of preventive and patient-centered care. While there has been some improvement in recent years, lower scores on safe and coordinated care pull the overall U.S. quality score down. Continued adoption of health information technology should enhance the ability of U.S. physicians to identify, monitor, and coordinate care for their patients, particularly those with chronic conditions.
- Access: Not surprisingly—given the absence of universal coverage—people in the U.S. go without needed health care because of cost more often than people do in the other countries. Americans were the most likely to say they had access problems related to cost. Patients in the U.S. have rapid access to specialized health care services; however, they are less likely to report rapid access to primary care than people in leading countries in the study. In other countries, like Canada, patients have little to no financial burden, but experience wait times for such specialized services. There is a frequent misperception that trade-offs between universal coverage and timely access to specialized services are inevitable; however, the Netherlands, U.K., and Germany provide universal coverage with low out-of-pocket costs while maintaining quick access to specialty services.
- Efficiency: On indicators of efficiency, the U.S. ranks last among the 11 countries, with the U.K. and Sweden ranking first and second, respectively. The U.S. has poor performance on measures of national health expenditures and administrative costs as well as on measures of administrative hassles, avoidable emergency room use, and duplicative medical testing. Sicker survey respondents in the U.K. and France are less likely to visit the emergency room for a condition that could have been treated by a regular doctor, had one been available.
- Equity: The U.S. ranks a clear last on measures of equity. Americans with below-average incomes were much more likely than their counterparts in other countries to report not visiting a physician when sick; not getting a recommended test, treatment, or follow-up care; or not filling a prescription or skipping doses when needed because of costs. On each of these indicators, one-third or more lower-income adults in the U.S. said they went without needed care because of costs in the past year.
- Healthy lives: The U.S. ranks last overall with poor scores on all three indicators of healthy lives—mortality amenable to medical care, infant mortality, and healthy life expectancy at age 60. The U.S. and U.K. had much higher death rates in 2007 from conditions amenable to medical care than some of the other countries, e.g., rates 25 percent to 50 percent higher than Australia and Sweden. Overall, France, Sweden, and Switzerland rank highest on healthy lives.
Summary
- The U.S. ranks last of 11 nations overall. Findings in this report confirm many of those in the earlier four editions of Mirror, Mirror, with the U.S. still ranking last on indicators of efficiency, equity, and outcomes.
- The U.K. continues to demonstrate strong performance and ranked first overall, though lagging notably on health outcomes. Switzerland, which was included for the first time in this edition, ranked second overall.
- In the subcategories, the U.S. ranks higher on preventive care, and is strong on waiting times for specialist care, but weak on access to needed services and ability to obtain prompt attention from primary care physicians. Any attempt to assess the relative performance of countries has inherent limitations.
- These rankings summarize evidence on measures of high performance based on national mortality data and the perceptions and experiences of patients and physicians. They do not capture important dimensions of effectiveness or efficiency that might be obtained from medical records or administrative data. Patients’ and physicians’ assessments might be affected by their experiences and expectations, which could differ by country and culture.
- Disparities in access to services signal the need to expand insurance to cover the uninsured and to ensure that all Americans have an accessible medical home.
- Under the Affordable Care Act, low- to moderate-income families are now eligible for financial assistance in obtaining coverage. Meanwhile, the U.S. has significantly accelerated the adoption of health information technology following the enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and is beginning to close the gap with other countries that have led on adoption of health information technology. Significant incentives now encourage U.S. providers to utilize integrated medical records and information systems that are accessible to providers and patients. Those efforts will likely help clinicians deliver more effective and efficient care.
- Many U.S. hospitals and health systems are dedicated to improving the process of care to achieve better safety and quality, but the U.S. can also learn from innovations in other countries—including public reporting of quality data, payment systems that reward high-quality care, and a team approach to management of chronic conditions.
- Based on these patient and physician reports, and with the enactment of health reform, the United States should be able to make significant strides in improving the delivery, coordination, and equity of the health care system in coming years.
Editor’s Note: The author’s views and conclusions in the above article are unaltered and no personal comments have been included to maintain the integrity of the original post. Furthermore, the views, conclusions and any recommendations offered in this article are not to be construed as an endorsement of such by the editor.
*http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-06-22/us-healthcare-snapshot-most-expensive-yet-worst-developed-world (Copyright ©2009-2014 ZeroHedge.com/ABC Media, LTD; All Rights Reserved)
Related Articles:
- The World Economic Forum released its annual Global Gender Gap Report for 2013 measuring gender disparity between men and women around the world…and disappointingly the United States didn’t even make it in the top 20! How did your country fare? Read More »
2. Going Topless Is Legal In These U.S. States & Canadian Provinces
- Going topless for both men and women has come a long way over the last 77 years but still has much further to go as the map of the U.S. below illustrates. Read More »
3. How Optimistic/Pessimistic Is Your Country About Its Future Economy?
- To what extent do residents of these 39 countries think their country’s economy will improve or worsen by the spring of 2014? Take a look. Read More »
4. Where Does U.S. Credit-worthiness Rank Among Other Countries?
- Leading up to the short term resolution of the debt ceiling crisis there were many articles about the extent of the national debt of the U.S.. the likelihood of default and, as such, the overall credit-worthiness of the once proud U.S. of A. The fact is, however, that while the U.S. does not rank in the top 10, it is far more financially sound than most other countries. Take a look at where it ranks compared to 47 other countries. Read More »
5. Who Are the World’s Happiest Citizens? Where Does Your Country Rank?
- According to the 2nd annual World Happiness Report of the Earth Institute, sponsored by the UN, Canada slipped to 6th place among the world’s happiest countries, Australia ranked 10th and the U.S. dropped down to below that of its neighbours to the south including Costa Rica, Panama and Mexico. Where does your country rank? Read on! Read More »
6. Which Is the World’s Safest Major Currency – You’ll Be Surprised
- The term ‘safe fiat currency’ is as intellectually disingenuous as terms like ‘fair tax’ or ‘government innovation’ but, as we’ve been exploring recently why modern central banking is completely dysfunctional, it does beg the question– is any currency ‘safe’? Let’s look at the numbers for some data-driven analysis. Words: 575 Read More »
7. Where Does Your Country Rank in Gold Reserves per Person?
- The country with the biggest reserves in the world is, not surprisingly, America, with 8,134 tonnes but, expressed in terms of reserves per person, the picture looks very different. Take a look. You’ll be surprised. Read More »
8. World’s Most Prosperous Countries: Where Do the U.S., Canada and Others Rank?
- The Legatum Prosperity Index survey, as shown in the following table, ranks countries on eight different attributes, and then consolidates those attributes into an ‘overall ranking’. The report says that the U.S. has fallen out of the top 10 (to #12) in the ‘most prosperous country ranking’ increasing doubts about the health of its economy and ability of its politicians. Read the balance of the article to see where your country is ranked overall and in each of the 8 different categories. Words: 520 Read More »
9. 18 Countries Now Have More Economic Freedom Than U.S. – Here are the Details
- This year’s Economic Freedom of the World Index, which lists countries by most to least free using every available objective criterion, contains a real shocker when it comes to the United States. We aren’t just slipping on the index, we’re falling off a cliff. In many parts of the world, life is freer than in the “land of the free.” What this reports says about the United States should be front-page news. Instead, it has received barely any attention at all. The U.S. has fallen from a high of 2nd to its current 19th. Here’s why. Words: 1040
10. Average Age of First Sexual Intercourse by Country & 49 Other Informative Views of the World
- If you’re a visual learner then you know maps, charts and infographics can really help bring data and information to life. Maps can make a point resonate with readers and this collection aims to do just that. Read More »
The above article tends to refer to average Health Care but I believe that for the Wealthy US Health Care is far superior to many Countries, especially for those with a PPO Plan instead of HMO Plans.