The United States is one of the richest countries in the world, but relative to other high-income countries, the United States comes last in access to health care, equity and results, according to a report released this week. This despite the fact that much more of the GDP is spent on health care than in other countries, according to the study.
The Commonwealth Fund ranks high-income countries based on access to care, process of care, administrative efficiency, equity and health outcomes. The United States has been in last place every year since 2004, when the organization began tracking results. The main reason is that the United States is the only country out of the 11 countries on the list that does not have universal health insurance. The other countries are Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
American health insurance does not provide adequate protection and hurts Americans’ health and money, David Blumenthal, President of the Commonwealth Fund, He told CNN. This means that people are forced to quit healthcare or incur medical debts.
In fact, half of low-income adults in the US reported not receiving care because of the cost, compared to just 12% of low-income adults in the UK. About 25% of high-income Americans said they would forgo care because of the cost, and 7% in the UK
“No other country is reducing income inequality through access to health care as drastically as it is here,” said Blumenthal. “A lot of people cannot afford the care they need and a lot of them are uninsured, especially compared to other rich countries.”
Not only low income Americans have been affected. The study found that in all of the other countries studied, a high-income U.S. citizen was more likely to report financial barriers than a low-income person.
Norway, the Netherlands and Australia scored the highest in the study. The United States also scored poorly on maternal mortality, infant mortality, life expectancy, and deaths that could have been prevented with timely access to care and administrative efficiency.
The United States excelled in the sponsorship process and took second place. Rates of mammography screening, flu shots for the elderly, and the number of adults who spoke to a health care provider about diet, smoking and alcohol use were higher. higher than in other countries.
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