US Healthcare Trails All Other Wealthy Countries

According to a recent study, the US healthcare system ranks last among wealthy countries.

The 2021 report, “Mirror, Mirror 2021: Reflecting Poorly,” is by the New York City-based Commonwealth Fund, which supports independent research on healthcare issues. It found that compared with 10 other high-income countries, people in the US are more likely to be unable to afford health insurance, to suffer early death from a lack of timely healthcare, and to have their treatment slowed by administrative red tape. The US was also found to have the widest health disparities between high- and low-income people.

Patient outcomes were measured and compared with Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK. Researchers looked at access to care, care processes, administrative efficiency, equity, and healthcare outcomes. The US was the only country in the report without universal healthcare.

Norway ranked first, followed by the Netherlands, Australia, the UK, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden, France, Switzerland, and Canada. Norway was cited as having excellent access to care, communication among health providers, and patient use of web portals for talking to doctors and refilling medications.

The US ranked last in all areas except care processes (which include preventive care like mammogram tests and flu vaccinations) and patient engagement (such as people talking to heath workers about smoking cessation and healthier eating).

Among the categories in which the US ranked last is access to care. The US spends a greater proportion of its GDP on healthcare than any wealthy country, yet the report found nearly 40% of Americans missed doctor-recommended healthcare in the past year because of prohibitive cost.

“Mirror, Mirror” says the US can achieve more equitable health outcomes by expanding health insurance coverage, ensuring affordable and convenient primary care, reducing administrative complexity, and investing more in social services.