By continuing to browse our website, you accept our use of the cookie for statistical and personalization purposes. Learn more Our scorecard ranks each state's health care system based on how well it provides high-quality, accessible, and equitable health care. Read the report to see health care rankings by state. It spends nearly 18 percent of GDP on health care, but Americans die younger and are less healthy than residents of other high-income countries.
Not just the U.S. UU. They have the lowest life expectancy of high-income countries, but they also have the highest rates of preventable deaths. In the previous edition of U.S.
Healthcare from a Global Perspective, we reported that people in the United States experience the worst overall health outcomes of any high-income country, 1 Americans are more likely to die younger and from preventable causes than residents of peer countries. For each metric we examine, we use the most recent data available. This means that the results of some countries may reflect the high point of the COVID-19 pandemic, when mental health problems were increasing, essential health services were interrupted, and patients may not receive the same level of care (3 health expenses per person in the United States). It was almost twice as high as in the nearest country, Germany, and four times as high as in South Korea.
In the U.S. All countries included in this analysis, except the U.S. In addition to public coverage, people in several countries have the option of also purchasing private coverage. In France, almost the entire population has public and private insurance. High suicide rates, which increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic, may indicate a high burden of mental illness 13. The United States has the third highest suicide rate, while the United Kingdom has the lowest, almost half that of the US.
It is an atypical case of deaths due to physical assault, including violence with firearms. Its 7.4 deaths per 100,000 people are well above the OECD average of 2.7, and at least seven times more than in all other high-income countries included in our study, except New Zealand. Obesity is a key risk factor for chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Problems that contribute to obesity include unhealthy living environments, less regulated food and agriculture sectors, lower socioeconomic status, and higher rates of behavioral health problems 14, USA.
It has the highest obesity rate among the countries we studied, where the available data were almost twice as high as the OECD average. Health care spending is the highest in the world, and in general, Americans visit doctors less often than residents of most other high-income countries. With four visits per person per year, Americans go to the doctor less often than the OECD average. Less frequent doctor visits may be related to the comparatively low supply of doctors in the U.S.
More than two-thirds of older Americans receive the flu vaccine, as do older residents of several other high-income countries, and more than the OECD average. It works relatively well in preventing cancer. This is likely due to the need for comprehensive screening and screening tests, which are essential for diagnosing breast and colorectal cancer early and initiating treatment in a timely manner. 15 The United States and Sweden had the highest number of breast cancer screenings among women aged 50 to 69, a figure significantly higher than the OECD average.
In contrast, only 43 percent of women aged 50 to 69 underwent screening in France. When it comes to screening for colorectal cancer, the United States exceeded the OECD average and had one of the highest rates. Magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, is a common and effective diagnostic imaging technique for diagnosing and tracking treatment for a variety of diseases. The countries that use these specialized explorations the most are the United States.
While the United States spends more on health care than any other high-income country, the nation often performs worse when it comes to health measures and health care. In the case of the U.S. In the United States, the only country we studied that does not have universal health coverage, its health system may seem designed to dissuade people from using services. A second step is to contain costs.
Other countries have achieved better health outcomes and have generally spent much less on healthcare. Policymakers and health systems could consider some of the approaches taken by other countries to contain total health spending, including administrative and health care costs. A third step is to improve the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. For this reason, it is essential to develop the capacity to provide comprehensive, continuous and well-coordinated care. Decades of lack of investment, combined with an inadequate supply of health care providers, have limited many Americans' access to effective primary care.
23 The results of our international comparison demonstrate the importance of a health care system that supports the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases, the early diagnosis and treatment of medical problems, affordable access to health care coverage and cost containment, among the key functions of a high performance. Other countries have found ways to do these things right; U.S. Another limitation of our study is that we were unable to disaggregate the data by race and ethnicity. Research has uncovered enormous health disparities in the U.S. Gunja, principal investigator of the International Program for Innovations in Health Policy and Practices, The Commonwealth Fund International, international surveys, quality of care, coverage and access, costs and expenses, health outcomes.
There are many possible factors that cause healthcare prices in the United States to be higher than in other countries, ranging from the consolidation of hospitals leading to lack of competition to the inefficiencies and administrative waste that stem from the complexity of the U. Fortunately, there are opportunities to transform the health system into one that produces higher quality care at a lower cost. The recent release of Health Statistics 2024 from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a comprehensive source of comparable statistics on health systems in OECD member countries, provides policymakers and the public with an idea of how the U.S. health system compares to that of others. The amount of resources a country allocates to health care varies, as each country has its own political, economic and social attributes that help determine how much it will spend.
Despite spending nearly twice as much on health care per capita, utilization rates in the United States do not differ significantly from those in other wealthy OECD countries. In general, richer countries, such as the United States, will spend more on health care than less prosperous countries. As such, it helps to compare health spending in the United States with spending in other comparatively rich countries, those with a gross domestic product (GDP) and a GDP per capita above the median, relative to all OECD countries.
