U.S. outspends 12 other countries on healthcare, report says

The U.S. outspends 12 other industrialized countries on healthcare, but does not provide superior care to those nations, according to a report from the Commonwealth Fund.

Using data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, researchers compared healthcare spending, supply, utilization, prices and quality among the industrialized countries of Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K. The study showed that the U.S. spent almost $8,000 per capita on healthcare in 2009, while Japan and New Zealand spent about one-third as much and Norway and Switzerland spent about two-thirds as much. And healthcare spending in the U.S. was about 17% of the country's gross domestic product compared with all of the countries, where spending was 12% or less of GDP.

Meanwhile, spending more money has not translated to better quality healthcare in America, the report found. For 2009, the U.S. had among the highest rates of potentially preventable mortality because of asthma for those between the ages of 5 and 39, and also for lower-extremity amputations because of diabetes per 100,000 population. “On both measures, the U.S. had among the highest rates, suggesting a failure to effectively manage these chronic conditions that make up an increasing share of the disease burden,” the report said.

The findings cited greater use of more expensive medical technology in the U.S. as a factor in higher spending rates. And the study also highlighted two areas that have been presumed to cause higher spending but were found not to be true. First, despite the country's aging population as the baby-boom generation retires, the U.S. had a relatively young population compared with other countries in the report. Lifestyle, however, plays an important role, and one-third of the U.S. population is obese, which is higher than the proportion in any other country.

Also, one potential explanation for higher U.S. healthcare spending has been greater use of supply of healthcare services, but the study showed that not to be the case. “There were 2.4 physicians per 100,000 population in the U.S. in 2009, fewer than in all other study countries except Japan,” the study noted. Prices for selected healthcare services, however, tend to be higher in the U.S.