An inpatient visit in the United States averages $22,000, more than three times the average cost in Germany ($6,050) (Photo: Shutterstock)
A single outpatient visit in the United States costs an average of $500, a new study finds. That may sound expensive, but it's a pittance compared to the average in-patient visit: $22,000.
The research, which was conducted by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, also highlighted how much more expensive health care is in the U.S. compared to other countries.
In some cases, the average price of care is simply a reflection of the country's economy. The average outpatient visit only costs $2 in Burundi, Eritrea and the Central African Republic, all of which have extremely high levels of poverty.
However, care is also much cheaper in wealthy countries. In Japan, the average outpatient visit ($76) costs about a sixth as much as in the U.S., and outpatient visits in Canada ($157), France ($170) and the United Kingdom ($243) all cost less than half as much as in the U.S., on average. Even in Switzerland, a country with a per-capita income significantly higher than America's, the average visit was more than $100 cheaper ($398).
The average cost of inpatient care in the U.S. dwarfed that of other developed countries. It is more than three times the average cost in Germany ($6,050) and France ($6,567) and more than double the average cost in the UK ($9,037), Canada ($10,103) and Japan ($10,335).
“To achieve (universal health care), health officials in the government, private, and nonprofit sectors need to expand services to accommodate population growth and aging, as well as expand insurance coverage,” said Dr. Marcia R. Weaver of IHME. “Not surprisingly, we found both overutilization and underutilization of services among inpatient and outpatient facilities. More importantly, we identified countries like the Netherlands, Portugal, and Thailand that have the right amount of each.”
The good news is that there is evidence that growth in health care spending is beginning to slow. At least the rate of spending growth did not rise as much in 2017 as in prior years. Health care as a percentage of GDP declined ever-so-slightly, from 18 percent to 17.9 percent.
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