The Failing US Healthcare System: Last in Global Rankings

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The health system in the U.S. is failing

The U.S. ranks as the worst performer among 10 developed nations in critical areas of health care, including preventing deaths, access (mainly because of high cost), and guaranteeing quality treatment for everyone, regardless of gender, income, or geographic location, according to the report, published Thursday by The Commonwealth Fund, an independent research group.Based on the new findings, people in the U.S. die the youngest and experience the most avoidable deaths, even though the country spends nearly twice as much about 18% of gross domestic product on health care than any other nation ranked.

Surveys indicate that health care is among the top priorities for voters in the November presidential election. Vice President Kamala Harris has pitched building on the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. Thursday’s findings show, the researchers say, that the U.S. spends the most but gets the least from its investment. So we have to wonder what is wrong with the healthcare system.

Dr. Joseph Betancourt, the president of The Commonwealth Fund said, “No other country in the world expects patients and families to pay as much out of pocket for essential health care as they do in the U.S.” He went on to say, “We are undersupplied with the things that people need most,” including doctors and hospital beds “That’s one of the reasons why you have to wait so long in the United States for specialty care and one of the reasons why no one can find a primary care physician.” The research results were based on tens of thousands of survey responses from primary care physicians and residents in high-income countries collected over the last three years.

The researchers focus on how the U.S. compared with nine other countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Each country was graded on five important categories: access to care, care process, administrative efficiency, equity, and health outcomes.

The countries that ranked in the top three overall were Australia, the Netherlands, and the U.K. Australia, and the Netherlands also had the lowest healthcare spending, according to the report.

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