Question: What is the U.S.'s health care system rank in the world?
From: Kim N. of Anaheim, CA
Answer: I wish I could tell you that we rank 1st but I’m afraid that isn’t so. Despite the growing cost of healthcare and the advancements in technology and medicine, the U.S. lags behind several other nations. We rank last to 2nd last when compared to 22 other developed countries in infant mortality (CNN report May, 2006). In a 1997, the World Health Organization ranked the U.S. 37.th France and Italy ranked 1st and 2nd respectively. Measures included health distribution, responsiveness, expenditures, level of health and health performance. The Commonwealth Fund () sponsored a survey of patients and physicians from the U.S., Australia, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, and New Zealand. According to the 2007 report, the U.S was last or next to last in quality, access, efficiency, equity, and healthy lives. We ranked the highest in preventive care. Only the U.S. lacked universal healthcare coverage.
There may be several reasons for the U.S. lower rankings. 47 million Americans are without healthcare coverage. In April, 2007, newsman John Stossel also noted the U.S. homicide rate is 10 times higher than the UK, 8 times higher than France’s, and 5 times higher than Canada’s. The U.S. also has more transportation accidents than the others. These account for premature deaths which are factored into the ranking. In January, 2008, Reuters reported on new rankings of 19 industrialized nations, focusing on preventable deaths due to treatable conditions. These are deaths which could have been prevented by access to timely and effective healthcare. The U.S. ranked last with 109.7 deaths per 100,000 people. France was best with 64.8 deaths per 100,000 people.
Ruthann Russo, PhD, JD, MPH, RHIT, is a healthcare expert with more than 20 years of experience working in and advising healthcare organizations.
