On Wed, 23 Jun 2010 16:21:17 -0700, "nom=de=plume"
wrote:


"Harry" wrote in message
om...
U.S. scores dead last again in healthcare study

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans spend twice as much as residents of other
developed countries on healthcare, but get lower quality, less efficiency
and have the least equitable system, according to a report released on
Wednesday.

The United States ranked last when compared to six other countries --
Britain, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand, the
Commonwealth Fund report found.

"As an American it just bothers me that with all of our know-how, all of
our wealth, that we are not assuring that people who need healthcare can
get it," Commonwealth Fund president Karen Davis told reporters in a
telephone briefing.

Previous reports by the nonprofit fund, which conducts research into
healthcare performance and promotes changes in the U.S. system, have been
heavily used by policymakers and politicians pressing for healthcare
reform.

Davis said she hoped health reform legislation passed in March would lead
to improvements.

The current report uses data from nationally representative patient and
physician surveys in seven countries in 2007, 2008, and 2009. It is
available here

In 2007, health spending was $7,290 per person in the United States, more
than double that of any other country in the survey.

Australians spent $3,357, Canadians $3,895, Germans $3,588, the
Netherlands $3,837 and Britons spent $2,992 per capita on health in 2007.
New Zealand spent the least at $2,454.

This is a big rise from the Fund's last similar survey, in 2007, which
found Americans spent $6,697 per capita on healthcare in 2005, or 16
percent of gross domestic product.

"We rank last on safety and do poorly on several dimensions of quality,"
Schoen told reporters. "We do particularly poorly on going without care
because of cost. And we also do surprisingly poorly on access to primary
care and after-hours care."

NETHERLANDS RANKED FIRST OVERALL

The report looks at five measures of healthcare -- quality, efficiency,
access to care, equity and the ability to lead long, healthy, productive
lives.

Britain, whose nationalized healthcare system was widely derided by
opponents of U.S. healthcare reform, ranks first in quality while the
Netherlands ranked first overall on all scores, the Commonwealth team
found.

U.S. patients with chronic conditions were the most likely to say they
gotten the wrong drug or had to wait to learn of abnormal test results.

"The findings demonstrate the need to quickly implement provisions in the
new health reform law," the report reads.

Critics of reports that show Europeans or Australians are healthier than
Americans point to the U.S. lifestyle as a bigger factor than healthcare.
Americans have higher rates of obesity than other developed countries, for
instance.

"On the other hand, the other countries have higher rates of smoking,"
Davis countered. And Germany, for instance, has a much older population
more prone to chronic disease.

Every other system covers all its citizens, the report noted and said the
U.S. system, which leaves 46 million Americans or 15 percent of the
population without health insurance, is the most unfair.

"The lower the performance score for equity, the lower the performance on
other measures. This suggests that, when a country fails to meet the needs
of the most vulnerable, it also fails to meet the needs of the average
citizen," the report reads.

It's Obama's fault for even trying to fix things... duhhh...


Of course you know, as an expert on the rule of law, that:

1. This discussion has no business in a boating group.

2. The legal system is badly in need of tort reform, one of the
leading causes of high medical expenses.

3. There is no chance of #2 any time soon.