"WE'RE NUMBER ONE" - HEALTHCARE DIVISION

I've posted before about the poor performance of the U.S. health care system when compared to comparable countries in terms of broad measures like life expectancy (males, females) and infant mortality rates. We also do poorly on other measures, as The Commonwealth Fund reports:

A new international survey supported by The Commonwealth Fund finds that one-third of U.S. patients with health problems reported experiencing medical mistakes, medication errors, or inaccurate or delayed lab results—the highest rate of any of the six nations surveyed. While sicker patients in all countries reported safety risks, poor care coordination, and inadequate chronic care treatment, with no country deemed best or worst overall, the United States stood out for high error rates, inefficient coordination of care, and high out-of-pocket costs resulting in forgone care.

One-third (34%) of U.S. respondents reported at least one of four types of errors: they believed they experienced a medical mistake in treatment or care, were given the wrong medication or dose, were given incorrect test results, or experienced delays in receiving abnormal test results. Three of 10 (30%) Canadian respondents reported at least one of these errors, as did one-fifth or more of patients in Australia (27%), New Zealand (25%), Germany (23%), and the U.K. (22%).

As was found in past surveys, the U.S. is an outlier in terms of financial burdens placed on patients. One–half of adults with health problems in the U.S. said they did not see a doctor when sick, did not get recommended treatment, or did not fill a prescription because of cost. Despite these high rates of forgone care, one-third of U.S. patients spent more than $1,000 out-of-pocket in the past year. In contrast, just 13 percent of U.K. adults reported not getting needed care because of costs, and two-thirds had no out-of-pocket costs.

[NOTE: The United States spent at least 80 percent more per capita on health care than each of the other countries in 2002, according to a report published by Health Affairs in July. Americans spent about $5,267 per capita in 2002, or about 14.6 percent of the gross domestic product, the report found. Per-capita spending in Canada was second-highest at $2,931 per person.]