US Healthcare System Stands Last Among 11 Countries
- Vipin Kumar
- August 20, 2021
- News
Despite spending more on the healthcare department than other countries in the world, the US Healthcare system lags behind in the group of 11 high-income countries, according to the new report from Commonwealth fund.
“We ranked last when it comes to care, affordability, administrative efficiency, equity and healthcare outcomes,” David Blumenthal, President of the Commonwealth Fund, confirmed at a press conference. Later he added, “In no other country does income inequality so profoundly limit access to care as it does here.”
The Report suggests that the top-performing countries are Europeans: Norway, The Netherlands, Australia, The U.K., and Germany ranks in the top five places. The rest of the countries like New Zealand, Sweden, France, Switzerland, and Canada complete the list of top 10, while the US comes in at No. 11.
“Other countries have much better primary care than we do in the United States and they have systems that are more equitable”, the President said.
The countries are ranked based on the five metrics: access to care, care process, administrative efficiency, equity, and healthcare outcomes. The US ranked last among all metrics except one – Care Process, where it stands at second.
Even when another potential wave of novel Coronavirus threatens the U.S., researchers point out that many of these metrics are closely related to “Controlling and Preventing Infection” as well as addressing the “Challenges that the pandemic has presented to the workforce, operations and financial stability of the organizations delivering care.”
The study found that the overall healthcare performance in the U.S. is lacking compared to other peer nations. The study also concluded that despite spending almost 17% of its GDP (gross domestic product) on health care in 2019, significantly higher than Germany, which spent 11.7% of the GDP that year, the U.S. has poor outcomes.
The UK – which responded to the U.S. News regarding the 2021 Best Countries Report- ranked with the best health care system, Norway (7th), The Netherlands (6th), Switzerland (5th), Canada (4th), Germany (2nd), and Sweden gets 1st place on both rankings.
Higher Spendings Doesn’t Mean To Have the Strongest Health Care System
The Commonwealth Fund reports explained that the American healthcare system is no longer the strongest in the world.
Healthcare investment in the U.S. is rapidly growing since 1980, significantly quicker than in other nations. In 2019, the country increased healthcare expenditure nearly to $3.8 trillion, which accounted for 17.7 of GDP.
“One might think that such a high level of spending would enable the U.S. to achieve the best-performing healthcare system”, said Eric Synder, senior vice president for policy and research at the Commonwealth Fund.
People Also Like : How Technology Has Transformed the Healthcare Industry?