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Study: US leads in healthcare spending, but ranks last in health
A new report reinforces statistics that supporters of healthcare reform have been trumpeting for years: The U.S. spends more than any other industrialized country on healthcare but has one of the least healthy populations.
The U.S. spent $7,500 per person on healthcare in 2008, according to data released Thursday by The Conference Board of Canada — far and away the most of any country studied. The report says the U.S. spends 16 percent of its gross domestic product on healthcare. Private expenses make up the majority of that spending.
Yet the U.S. ranked last among the 17 countries surveyed in life expectancy and infant mortality. It also has fewer doctors and hospital beds per capita than other countries, according to the report. Japan had the best outcomes, based on the criteria the study used, and the lowest per capita spending.
Above-average spending in the U.S. is driven not just by the heavy use of outpatient services such as diagnostic tests, the report said, but also the price of those services.
“Prices in the U.S. are higher across the board,” the report states. “U.S. general practitioners, specialists, and nurses are paid significantly more than physicians in other countries.”
