A new analysis of 10 countries by a leading nonprofit health research organization has rated the U.S. health care system as the worst overall.
“Mirror Mirror 2024: A Portrait of America's Collapsing Healthy System” The report, released Thursday by the Commonwealth Fund, looked at 70 health systems in 10 wealthy countries, including Australia, Canada, Britain and the United States, and compared them with each other.
The nonprofit organization has been conducting and publishing international health policy research since 2004.
The U.S. health care system ranked last overall in the study, in part because it ranked just 10th in both accessibility and health outcomes, as well as low in administrative efficiency and fairness.
“Two decades later, this report makes clear that our health care system still lags far behind other countries when it comes to meeting the basic health needs of our people,” Commonwealth Fund President Joseph Bentacourt said in a conference call with reporters.
When ranking health systems for accessibility, the Commonwealth Fund chose to focus on affordability and availability.
The study ranked the Netherlands, the UK and Germany first, second and third respectively in terms of access to healthcare, while Switzerland and Australia came in eighth and ninth.
In the Netherlands, primary care, obstetric care and visits to pediatric health care providers are fully covered by insurance, and other medical services are also covered locally if patients pay an annual copayment, according to one of the country's largest insurers. Czech Republic.
Britain's National Health Service provides free public healthcare to Britons, including hospital, doctor and mental health care, but in Germany out-of-pocket costs are capped based on income, the country's public health insurer says. Krankenkassen.
According to the study, both Germany and the Netherlands have systems that require some doctors to work outside of regular hours to ensure citizens have access to medical care around the clock.
Surveys show that medical costs are a major barrier to receiving care in the United States.
At least 26 million Americans lack health insurance. KFFthey are required to pay for all medical expenses themselves.
Even Americans who have health insurance still face significant financial hurdles in paying for medical care.
Out-of-pocket limits for marketplace health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act will be $9,450 for single adults and $18,900 for family plans in 2024, according to the study.
More than 40% of Americans paid more than $1,000 out of pocket for medical expenses last year, according to a 2023 survey from the Commonwealth Fund.
The survey found that Americans are much more likely to say they don't have a doctor or medical clinic they visit regularly than people living in the other countries analyzed.
Recent Yahoo/YouGov Poll The survey found that 77 percent of Americans say they have a family doctor, while 20 percent say they don't have one and 4 percent don't know if they have one.
While many other countries have taken steps to ensure 24-hour access to health care providers, Americans also have limited options when they need to seek care outside of regular office hours.
for example, Germany Doctors are required to provide out-of-hours care at clinics and hospitals. Netherlands According to the Commonwealth Fund's International Health Systems Profile, general practitioners must work 50 hours a year outside normal business hours to maintain their licence.
To determine its health outcomes rankings, the nonprofit looked at countries' life expectancy at birth, avoidable deaths, and excess mortality due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Using these three metrics, Australia, Switzerland and New Zealand ranked in the top three.
Americans have the shortest life expectancy (77.5 years) of the 10 countries studied, and the highest rate of preventable and treatable deaths.
The U.S. also has the highest number of excess COVID-19 pandemic-related deaths among people under the age of 75 among the 10 countries. Drug overdoses and gun deaths are also far higher in the U.S. than in other wealthy countries, contributing to the country's poor health, the study noted.
Although the number of drug overdose deaths in the United States has declined in recent years, 107,000 people According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2,000 people will die from overdoses by 2023.
And that same year, nearly 43,000 people died from gun violence. Report From the National Institute of Healthcare Management.
While the United States has health care problems, the study noted that none of the countries analyzed are perfect.
“When comparing countries' overall performance, readers should exercise caution in drawing conclusions,” the study states. “Each country has areas in which it performs better and areas where it performs worse, and all countries have something to learn from each other.”
