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The USA Pays Double for Worse Health Results

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John Hunter

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This graphic from the National Geographic shows the amazingly high cost of health care in the USA and the poor performance. Granted just life expectancy is not a good overall measure of success. But this just mirrors the general mediocre at best performance of the USA health care system.

Chart of health care cost versus life expectancy by country

The USA spends $7,290 per person (based on 2007 OECD data) the next highest spending country is Switzerland at $4,417. Canada spends the 4th most: $3,895. Only 5 countries have a lower life expectancy. The most any of those countries spend is $1,626. How people continue to accept arguments by the apologists for the special interests trying to defend the current system is beyond me.

The Cost of Care by Michelle Andrews

The United States spends more on medical care per person than any country, yet life expectancy is shorter than in most other developed nations and many developing ones. Lack of health insurance is a factor in life span and contributes to an estimated 45,000 deaths a year. Why the high cost? The U.S. has a fee-for-service system – paying medical providers piecemeal for appointments, surgery, and the like. That can lead to unneeded treatment that doesn’t reliably improve a patient’s health. Says Gerard Anderson, a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who studies health insurance worldwide, “More care does not necessarily mean better care.”

Related: USA Spent $2.2 Trillion, 16.2% of GDP, on Health Care in 2007 – Employees Face Soaring Health Insurance Costs – International Health Care System Performance – USA Heath Care System Needs Reform

Comments

4 responses to “The USA Pays Double for Worse Health Results”

  1. USA Spends Record $2.3 trillion ($7,681 Per Person) on Health Care in 2008 at Curious Cat Investing and Economics Blog

    […] to the health care spending per capita in the USA, is Thailand at $7,703 – World Bank data). The average spending by OECD countries (Europe/USA/Japan…) was $2,966 per person in 2007 (the USA was at $7,290). In 2007 Canada spent $3,895; France $3,601; UK $2,992; Japan […]

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  2. How Low Do Our Expectations for Health Care Performance Have to Be? | Razornomics

    […] The average spending by OECD countries (Europe/USA/Japan…) was $2,966 per person in 2007 (the USA was at $7,290). In 2007 Canada spent $3,895; France $3,601; UK $2,992; Japan $2,581. […]

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  3. USA Spends Record $2.5 Trillion, $8,086 per person 17.6% of GDP on Health Care in 2009 at Curious Cat Investing and Economics Blog

    […] takes more and more of the economic resources of the country. The broken USA health care system costs twice as much as other rich countries for worse results. And those are just the direct accounting costs – not the costs of millions […]

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  4. USA Spent a Record $2.7 Trillion, $8,680 per person, 17.9% of GDP on Health Care in 2011 at Curious Cat Investing and Economics Blog

    […] USA health care spending continues to grow, consuming an ever increasing share of the economic production of the USA. USA health care spending is twice that of other rich countries for worse health care results. […]

    Reply

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