this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2024

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US health system ranks last compared with peer nations, report finds (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 2 years ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

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Despite Americans paying nearly double that of other nations, the US fares poorly in list of 10 countries

The United States health system ranked dead last in an international comparison of 10 peer nations, according to a new report by the Commonwealth Fund.

In spite of Americans paying nearly double that of other countries, the system performed poorly on health equity, access to care and outcomes.

"I see the human toll of these shortcomings on a daily basis," said Dr Joseph Betancourt, the president of the Commonwealth Fund, a foundation with a focus on healthcare research and policy.

...

The fund said the US would need to expand insurance coverage and make “meaningful” improvements on the amount of healthcare expenses patients pay themselves; minimize the complexity and variation in insurance plans to improve administrative efficiency; build a viable primary care and public health system; and invest in social wellbeing, rather than thrust problems of social inequity onto the health system.

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[–] jpreston2005@lemmy.world 20 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

The U.S. health care system is a failure because of the continued existence of health insurance companies over the more streamlined approach of Medicare for All.

Also this graph is hilarious, albeit depressing.

[–] Hapankaali@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Actually, many of those countries don't have systems similar to Medicare for All. Netherlands, supposedly second in this list, has a mostly privatized system with mandatory insurance, so does Switzerland. France and Germany have semi-public and private health insurance companies. The US has bigger (and different) problems than merely the existence of health insurance companies.

[–] LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Not really true about Netherlands:

The Netherlands has a dual-level system. All primary and curative care (i.e. the family doctor service and hospitals and clinics) is financed from private mandatory insurance. Long term care for the elderly, the dying, the long term mentally ill etc. is covered by social insurance funded from earmarked taxation under the provisions of the Algemene Wet Bijzondere Ziektekosten, which came into effect in 1968. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_the_Netherlands#:~:text=Health%20insurance%20in%20the%20Netherlands,long%2Dterm%20nursing%20and%20care.

See the social insurance aspect? The largest financial burden to the Healthcare system is usually a person's last 5 years of life, so they've socialized the expensive parts of healthcare and privatized the cheaper stuff.

For Switzerland:

The insured person pays the insurance premium for the basic plan. If a premium is too high compared to the person's income, the government gives the insured person a cash subsidy to help pay for the premium.[8]

This isn't something done in every US state, to be clear. In some states it's very hard to access healthcare if you can't afford the premium. This lack of coverage often creates a heavier burden on healthcare systems because people are uninsured.

[–] Hapankaali@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago

The Wlz (which replaced the AWBZ) covers only a minority of total health care costs. Expenses were €29 bln in 2023. "Mostly privatized" is accurate.

Both the Netherlands and Switzerland have universal health care systems and negligible rates of lack of insurance. My point is just that private health insurance isn't the (only) problem, as these counterexamples show.