ANOTHER HEALTH CARE SURVEY...

and the same result: Health care in the U.S, lags behind other advanced countries, in this case Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. (h/t NPR)

The Commonwealth Fund has done similar studies in the last few years and found the same result:

Among the seven nations studied—Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States—the U.S. ranks last overall, as it did in the 2007, 2006, and 2004 editions of Mirror, Mirror. Most troubling, the U.S. fails to achieve better health outcomes than the other countries, and as shown in the earlier editions, the U.S. is last on dimensions of access, patient safety, coordination, efficiency, and equity.

The wingnuts ALWAYS say we have the best health care in the world but that's not what this study found:

Quality: The indicators of quality were grouped into four categories: effective care, safe care, coordinated care, and patient-centered care. Compared with the other six countries, the U.S. fares best on provision and receipt of preventive and patient-centered care. However, its low scores on chronic care management and safe, coordinated care pull its overall quality score down. Other countries are further along than the U.S. in using information technology and managing chronic conditions. Information systems in countries like Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K. enhance the ability of physicians to identify and monitor patients with chronic conditions.

You can find the full report here.