The state of American health care in a new global study is termed an embarrassment — although most other countries have some shortcomings, too.
Health Data reports the study, published in The Lancet, finds inequity of access to, and the quality of, health care is rampant across the globe, with people dying from causes that have well-known treatments.
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"What we have found about health care access and quality is disturbing," Dr. Christopher Murray, senior author of the study and director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, says in the report.
Murray adds, "Having a strong economy does not guarantee good health care. Having great medical technology doesn't either. We know this because people are not getting the care that should be expected for diseases with established treatments."
To highlight the problem, the report cites Norway and Australia, both ranked 90 on a scale of 0–100 for health care access and quality — near the top of the rankings. But both have troubled segments of care: Norway only got a grade of 65 when it came to testicular cancer, and Australia did even worse in the treatment of nonmelanoma skin cancer, at 52.
Shockingly enough, the tiny nation of Andorra topped the list, scoring a 95 — and even it dropped down in the rankings to 70 for Hodgkin's lymphoma. At the bottom of the list was Central African Republic at 29, which nonetheless got a much better treatment score for diphtheria, at 65.
So where did the U.S. fall in the rankings? It got an overall score of 81, tied with Estonia and Montenegro, but in nine separate categories it was more on a par with the failures of Norway and Australia (and the success of CAR), scoring only in the 60s: lower respiratory infections (60), neonatal disorders (69), nonmelanoma skin cancer (68), Hodgkin's lymphoma (67), ischemic heart disease (62), hypertensive heart disease (64), diabetes (67), chronic kidney disease (62) and the adverse effects of medical treatment itself (68).
"America's ranking is an embarrassment, especially considering the U.S. spends more than $9,000 per person on health care annually, more than any other country," Dr. Murray is quoted saying. He adds, "Anyone with a stake in the current health care debate, including elected officials at the federal, state, and local levels, should take a look at where the U.S. is falling short."
And that's before a Republican Congress changes the rules from the Affordable Care Act — which greatly increased the number of people with health insurance — to the American Health Care Act, which if enacted looks likely to push at least 24 million people off the rolls of insurers within the first 10 years.
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