Why Quality Healthcare May Not Be As Difficult As It Seems

Written by Robert Jennings, InnerSelf.com. Narrated by AI

If death from disease is the the ultimate judgement of a society's quality of healthcare then US healthcare is an abject failure. The US is the home of 20% of the world's deaths from Covid-19 while only having 4% of the world's population. And as disturbing, the US has spent more and endured more economic loss than any other society. I have no economic statistic to back this up but like Bill Maher says "I just know it's true".

In more ways than the pandemic, the US has fallen behind the rest of the world when it comes to the health of its citizens. Yet, the US spends, on average, nearly twice above average for healthcare than its wealthy competitors in the OECD.

Those seeking to justify the cost of the US system will often claim that it is the best healthcare in the world. And when challenged with the fact that it isn't true they will fall back on "if one can afford it". Sadly even that that seems factually incorrect. It's just the most expensive. Why?

US Society Gets Little For The Extra Buck

The country that spends the most on healthcare, other than the US, of the OECD countries is Switzerland. They, like the US have a private system but it is heavily regulated and supervised much like the system used to be in the US when there were many non-profit solutions prior to the neoliberalism era.

In 2018, the US spent $3.6 Trillion, $11,172 per person, or 17.7% of GDP according to the CDC.  If the US could spend just as much per capita as the second most expensive system in the world, which is Switzerland, the US would save 30% or $1 Trillion a year. All of that 30% extra is wasted by US healthcare as the overall health outcome of the US is inferior to Switzerland's...

Continue Reading at InnerSelf.com (plus audio/mp3 version of article)


Music By Caffeine Creek Band, Pixabay

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