Universal Health Care: An International Comparison
As the United States attempts to reform the health care system, the debate has become more and more contentious. It seems that everyone has different ideas on the changes that should be made. Many special interests in the medical and pharmaceutical field are fueling the debate with fear tactics. We hear ridiculous stories about "death panels" and rationing of care. The plain truth is that care is already being rationed. There are over 40 million Americans without health insurance. All of those Americans strictly ration their care simply because of economics. Many with insurance have their care rationed by insurance companies whose only interest is the "bottom line."
Maybe it is time for Americans to remember why we are trying to reform health care in the first place. This debate was initiated because the present system DOES NOT work. That is something that we can all agree upon. Even those privileged Americans with excellent health insurance recognize that they are a minority. No one thinks that our present patchwork system of care is ideal. In a survey of 10 industrialized countries, US citizens were least satisfied with their health care system.
There are plenty of reasons for dissatisfaction in the US health care system. The American system is the most expensive in the world. We pay more per capita for medical care than any other nation in the world and we get less! In 2008, the US spent just over 15% of the GDP on health care. The next highest country was Switzerland at 11.3%. With such a high percent spent on health care, one would expect a superior product. If we spend the most money, we should get the best care. That is not the case, however.
In fact, the health of our citizens is pretty awful compared to the rest of the world. One marker of the health of a nation is the infant mortality rate. The rate of death of newborns in the US is the second worse in the modern world. Only Latvia falls behind the US in infant mortality. Another universal marker of the health of a nation is the life expectancy of its citizens. For the last 2 decades, the United States has been steadily slipping in this ranking. Twenty years ago, the US was number 11. Last year, in spite of steadily rising health care costs, the US had fallen to number 42 in life expectancy. We are now behind nations such as Guam and Jordan.
So if we all agree there is a problem with our health care, how do we find a solution? One way may be to look at the example of other nations. Other countries have somehow found a way to provide health care to all their citizens for less money than we now spend. Those countries also have better ratings than us in the key markers of the health of their people. Maybe we can learn something by studying how they came upon their solutions? Here is a good article comparing the health care solutions of other nations. I found it very objective and informative.
