4 ms·

Do you have a source for that — what makes our healthcare systems "one of the worst"?

helsinkiandrew 2y ago
Lower life expectancy, higher infant and mother mortality, large numbers of untreated diabetes and other treatable illnesses For example: https://www.kff.org/health-policy-101-international-comparison-of-health-systems/?entry=table-of-contents-introduction https://www.kff.org/health-policy-101-international-comparis... But a basic google search returns hundreds of sources
- ljf 2y ago
  All for the highest cost per person, in the world
  - ethbr1 2y ago
    To be fair, there's an extremely strong correlation between GDP and absolute health care spending, regardless of underlying funding money. And the US is near the top of the GDP rankings.
    - helsinkiandrew 2y ago
      GDP and health spending is correlated and forms a nice line (see diagram below), but US spending is nowhere near that line. https://www.kff.org/health-policy-101-international-comparison-of-health-systems/?entry=table-of-contents-how-does-health-spending-in-the-u-s-compare-to-other-countries https://www.kff.org/health-policy-101-international-comparis...
- ethbr1 2y ago
  As your source notes, the US tends to do average on point of care metrics (e.g. hospital outcomes, versus other similarly developed countries), but worse on lifelong metrics that would conceivably be impacted by income disparity (e.g. life expectancy, maternal mortality). The metrics the US does poorly on seem like they're more of an access problem (than acute care being bad), which suggests broadening access to affordable healthcare would be the best redress -- i.e. universal healthcare. The US health system seems like it would be better served by explicitly breaking it into a multi-tier one. Basic tier: universal health care for basic access and procedurings, including proactive health measures Everything else: private health insurance available (not attached to an employer)
tripper_27 2y ago
cost and outcomes. In aggregate, Americans pay much more and get worse outcomes

Lower life expectancy, higher infant and mother mortality, large numbers of untreated diabetes and other treatable illnesses For example: https://www.kff.org/health-policy-101-international-comparison-of-health-systems/?entry=table-of-contents-introduction https://www.kff.org/health-policy-101-international-comparis... But a basic google search returns hundreds of sources

ljf 2y ago
All for the highest cost per person, in the world
- ethbr1 2y ago
  To be fair, there's an extremely strong correlation between GDP and absolute health care spending, regardless of underlying funding money. And the US is near the top of the GDP rankings.
  - helsinkiandrew 2y ago
    GDP and health spending is correlated and forms a nice line (see diagram below), but US spending is nowhere near that line. https://www.kff.org/health-policy-101-international-comparison-of-health-systems/?entry=table-of-contents-how-does-health-spending-in-the-u-s-compare-to-other-countries https://www.kff.org/health-policy-101-international-comparis...
ethbr1 2y ago
As your source notes, the US tends to do average on point of care metrics (e.g. hospital outcomes, versus other similarly developed countries), but worse on lifelong metrics that would conceivably be impacted by income disparity (e.g. life expectancy, maternal mortality). The metrics the US does poorly on seem like they're more of an access problem (than acute care being bad), which suggests broadening access to affordable healthcare would be the best redress -- i.e. universal healthcare. The US health system seems like it would be better served by explicitly breaking it into a multi-tier one. Basic tier: universal health care for basic access and procedurings, including proactive health measures Everything else: private health insurance available (not attached to an employer)

tripper_27 2y ago

cost and outcomes. In aggregate, Americans pay much more and get worse outcomes