Report: U.S. healthcare struggles to keep up with G-5 Joneses
The U.S. spent more than $6,284 per capita on healthcare in 2007, compared with an average of $2,968 per capita in G-5 countries: Canada, Japan, Germany, the U.K. and France, according to a report from Business Roundtable, an association of U.S. CEOs whose companies provide healthcare.
According to the 2010 Health System Value Comparability Study, which examined five years of data, “even as quality has improved, high healthcare costs have continued to hamper American competitiveness. This means that for every dollar people in the U.S. spend on healthcare, the G-5 countries spend just 47 cents.”
However, the 2010 study also cited progress in improving broad measures of health and healthcare quality in this country. For example, the U.S. has reduced hospital errors and smoking rates have continued to fall—15 percent of the U.S. population smokes versus 23 percent of the population among the five countries examined. The U.S. also continues to lead on key indicators, such as control of systolic blood pressure.
Obesity needs more attention in all of the countries studied—75 percent of Americans are overweight or obese, as are 51 percent of people in the G-5 countries, according to the report. The incidence of obesity rose in the G-5 during the five years studied, but it rose more quickly in the U.S.
According to the HealthCare Value Index, a metric of the overall study that measures the value of several nations’ healthcare systems, the U.S. spends much more than its G-5 counterparts to achieve a similar level of health and quality of care. On a weighted scale, the country gained 3.4 percentage points over four years in its value score compared to the G-5, and finished 2007 trailing the G-5 by 20.8 percent, the report found.
At the current rate of improvement, it will take more than 20 years for the U.S. to pull even with the G-5, according to the report.
“The data in this year’s Health System Value Comparability Study pre-dates passage of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act,” the study concluded. “This year’s study objectively compares year-over-year statistics ending in 2007, and in no way should be interpreted as analysis of the impact of the reform bill.”
To read the full study, click here.
According to the 2010 Health System Value Comparability Study, which examined five years of data, “even as quality has improved, high healthcare costs have continued to hamper American competitiveness. This means that for every dollar people in the U.S. spend on healthcare, the G-5 countries spend just 47 cents.”
However, the 2010 study also cited progress in improving broad measures of health and healthcare quality in this country. For example, the U.S. has reduced hospital errors and smoking rates have continued to fall—15 percent of the U.S. population smokes versus 23 percent of the population among the five countries examined. The U.S. also continues to lead on key indicators, such as control of systolic blood pressure.
Obesity needs more attention in all of the countries studied—75 percent of Americans are overweight or obese, as are 51 percent of people in the G-5 countries, according to the report. The incidence of obesity rose in the G-5 during the five years studied, but it rose more quickly in the U.S.
According to the HealthCare Value Index, a metric of the overall study that measures the value of several nations’ healthcare systems, the U.S. spends much more than its G-5 counterparts to achieve a similar level of health and quality of care. On a weighted scale, the country gained 3.4 percentage points over four years in its value score compared to the G-5, and finished 2007 trailing the G-5 by 20.8 percent, the report found.
At the current rate of improvement, it will take more than 20 years for the U.S. to pull even with the G-5, according to the report.
“The data in this year’s Health System Value Comparability Study pre-dates passage of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act,” the study concluded. “This year’s study objectively compares year-over-year statistics ending in 2007, and in no way should be interpreted as analysis of the impact of the reform bill.”
To read the full study, click here.