The Commonwealth Fund’s latest survey of eleven developed countries, which questions thousands of residents about their health costs and access to health care, has once again been spun with headlines such as: “We pay more, wait longer than other countries“.
In the United States, health spending accounted for almost 18 percent of GDP in 2011. The Netherlands comes next, at just under 12 percent. In dollar figures, the U.S. spent $8,508 per capita, versus only $5,669 in Norway, the runner-up. This certainly invites us to question whether we are getting our money’s worth.
However, it’s not clear that relatively high U.S. health spending is a burden on the nation.
Read the entire article at either John Goodman's Health Policy Blog or the Independent Institute's Beacon blog.
Research and commentary from a former senior executive in the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
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