Healthcare USA
We keep hearing how great the USA is in healthcare, yet we rank last when measured against any other industrialized country on all parameters measured. According to the Commonwealth Fund analysis, The U.S. ranked last on performance overall and ranked last or near last on the Access, Administrative Efficiency, Equity, and Health Care Outcomes domains. The top-ranked countries overall were the U.K., Australia, and the Netherlands. Based on a broad range of indicators, the U.S. health system is an outlier, spending far more but falling far short of the performance achieved by other high-income countries.
The results suggest the U.S. health care system should look at other countries’ approaches if it wants to achieve an affordable high-performing health care system that serves all Americans.
According to the World Health Organization in a 2010 report comparing healthcare systems from around the world, it is surprising to note the place our country has in the world. We are in the unenviable position of 37th and falling rapidly.
1 France 21 Belgium 2 Italian HealthCare System 22 Colombia 3 San Marino 23 Sweden 4 Andorra 24 Cyprus 5 Malta 25 German Healthcare 6 Singapore 26 Saudi Arabia 7 Spain Healthcare 27 United Arab Emirates 8 Oman 28 Israel 9 Austria 29 Morocco 10 Japanese Healthcare 30 Canada Healthcare 11 Norway 31 Finland 32 Australia 12 Portugal 33 Chile 13 Monaco 34 Denmark 14 Greece 35 Dominica 15 Iceland 36 Costa Rica Health 16 Luxembourg 37 US HealthCare 17 Netherlands 38 Slovenia 18 UK Healthcare System 39 Cuba 19 Irish Healthcare 40 Brunei 20 Switzerland 41 New Zealand
Do you find it surprising to see all the third world countries that rank above the USA in healthcare? I suppose not. By now most Americans realize you can say you are number one right up till the time you are lying on the mat looking up at your opponent, and you gradually come to the realization you are no longer number one.
We Americans are NOT number one and we are not even close to it. That sinking feeling you get when you read this should be a feeling you get used to, especially when you lose a loved one due to poor healthcare.
The USA’s poor showing in healthcare is portent of more severe times to come. We are going to continue to get worse in healthcare because of all our special interest groups that are so tightly tied to our congressional leaders. They are not going to kill the goose that is laying their golden eggs.
Big pharma spends more in this country lobbying Big Pharma to OUR congressional leaders than it spends lobbying the oil and gas industry. Sorry that is quite the misnomer. They are THEIR congressional leaders and work for the people that give them the money, not the people who elected them.
We have one of the poorest healthcare systems in the world and more and more Americans are leaving our country for their care. God bless America, and as Nancy Pelosi says, PREY for good health.
God bless all of you. Rick Redalen, MD, Maverick Doctor
Pick up a copy of my book “God’s Tiniest Angel and the Last Unicorn,” available on Amazon.
Dr. Rick is a retired American physician, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who has done mission work around the country and the world. He is now on a mission to improve healthcare in America. Visit maverickdoctor.com or email him at rickr@maverickdoctor.com.