An article in Science Daily entitled US Continues To Lag On Health Care, According To New International Comparison:
The U.S. health care system ranks last compared with five other nations [Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, and the U.K.] on measures of quality, access, efficiency, equity, and outcomes, in the third edition of a Commonwealth Fund report analyzing international health policy surveys. While the U.S. did well on some preventive care measures, the nation ranked at the bottom on measures of safe care and coordinated care.
Another new Commonwealth Fund report comparing health spending data in industrialized nations published today reveals that despite spending more than twice as much per capita on health care as other nations ($6,102 vs. $2,571 for the median of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD] countries in 2004) the U.S. spends far less on health information technology–just 43 cents per capita, compared with about $192 per capita in the U.K.
. . .* On measures of quality, the U.S. overall ranked 5th out of 6 countries. The U.S. ranked fifth in coordinated care, and last in patients reporting that they have a regular doctor (84% vs. 92%-97% in other countries).
* On access measures the U.S. ranked last overall, including last on timeliness of care: 61% of U.S. patients said it was somewhat or very difficult to get care on nights or weekends, compared with 25%-59% in other countries.
* On efficiency, the U.S. ranked last overall, including last on percent of patients who have visited the emergency room for conditions that could have been treated by a regular doctor if one had been available (26% vs. 6%-21% in other countries). The U.S. ranked fifth of six countries on primary care practices having “high clinical information functions,” defined as practices having at least 7 of 14 office practice information functions, including electronic records, electronic prescribing, computerized safety alerts, and patient reminders systems and registries (19% compared with 8%-87% in other countries).
Like I’ve said before, we’re already paying for universal health care, we’re just not getting it.
Doug, I caught a story on NBC News last night where Americans are going to foreign countries to have standard surgical procedure performed because they are so much cheaper. The story featured a man who went to Belgium for hip replacement surgery, which cost $16,000, including travel, in Belgium, but would have cost over $40,000 in the U.S. Some insurers, including Wellpoint, are allowing their insured to go out of network to have the surgery performed in a foreign country because of the savings. The downside is the risk of malpractice and lack of remedy for the patient, but the savings make it a very enticing
I try to keep up with the latest healthcare info, but I somehow missed this story. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
My sister-in-law had out patient shoulder surgery last year besides the office visits to the surgeon and,the surgeons fee and anatheisiologist fee the hospital fee was $12,000 this stikes me as rediculous.
For $12,000 she got to lay in the hospital for 6hrs before going home with two or three check ons by a nurse and was treated to water and ice chips.I also believe she received a pain pill.
I find it disturbing that some many people in this country just do not go to the doctor or have some sugerys because of fear of financial ruin!
I do not see this changing anytime soon either.The politicians from both parties are owned by the special interests and lobbyists.
There was also a story on 60 Minutes last year about the medical facilities in Thailand and India.
Both countries are developing hospital complexes that totally cater to the Western patients. Almost all of the doctors in both hospitals had done some rotations in the US and the CEO of the Thai hospital was an American. All of the people who provided the ongoing care were registered nurses, not LPN’s or aides.
The patients all had private rooms in which relatives were welcome to stay. There was even spa facilities that patients could use in their recovery.
One lady had a hip replacement using a technique that our FDA hadn’t approved yet, but which was used all over the world and had a recovery time of 2 weeks.
There was one guy who had a quadruple bypass for $20,000. The Thai hospital even arranged with the Thai airlines for him and other patients to use their frequent flier miles that they racked up in getting there to pay for follow-up visits.
On a side note – does anyone ever talk about the people who CAN’T get insurance because the health insurance companies only take healthy people? My husband and I will lose our insurance 01/08 and are having a hard time getting coverage since he has mild coronary disease which means he’s on a beta blocker for the rest of his life.