Read the following article: US Health Care System in Perspective (PDF)
In 300 words or more, discuss in detail two concepts within the article that you found most interesting. You might pick something that peaks your curiosity because you are interested in the field, or because you just find it surprising. Be sure to include specific numbers and/or statistics used. What does the article indicate is the reason for this specific data? Please be creative and do not merely repeat what another classmate already wrote.
20 Comments
Carly Nottingham
11/4/2015 10:45:43 am
I find it interesting that the United States outspends all other countries on health care. We talked about why the United States spends so much more than other countries and why healthcare is so expensive last class. The United States $7,538 per capita, which is higher than any other country. (Squires) The United States also has spent 16 percent of its gross domestic product on health care. (Squires) This is almost double of the percentage of other industrialized nations. The out of pocket pay for healthcare is also higher than other countries. In general the United States has a insufficient health care system compared to almost all other industrialized democracies. The United States has relatively few physician visits. “In 2008, the U.S. had the fewest practicing physicians per 1,000 population (2.43) among the 10 countries where data were available, and was below the OECD median (3.00).” (Squires) There were four doctor consultations per capita in the U.S., which was tied with Switzerland for the second-fewest among the 12 countries including Norway, Canada, Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden, New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom. I also found it interesting that the the UNited States has the highest drug utilization, prices, and spending. Adults in the United States were the most likely to take at least one prescription drug regularly (61%) and to take at least four prescription drugs regularly (25%). (Squires) Pharmaceutical spending per capita in the United States also
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Winnie Wei
11/4/2015 06:43:06 pm
The reports that provided by The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development offers the reader specific details about health care system in the U.S. By comparing the data in different areas between America and other countries, we can get the point that Health spending in America towered over all the comparison countries and America is actually an unhealthy country.
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Samantha Coulbourne
11/4/2015 07:27:28 pm
The beginning of the article caught my attention right away when it stated that The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), when comparing the United States to 11 other nations, found that the U.S. “towers” over the other countries in health care spending. I always knew the United States spent plenty of money on health care, but I was surprised about how much more we do spend compared to other countries. For example, in 2008 the United States spent $7,538 per capital, or per person, on health care, which was more than double the OCED average amount of $2,995. Norway was the country that spent the second highest amount per capita on health care expenses. However, even that country spent 2/3 less than the United States. That is a big difference. Another fact that I thought was interesting, was that for the large amount of money that the U. S. spends on health care, including prescriptions, doctor’s visits, and hospital stays, you would think that our country would have plenty of doctors. However, according to the research done by OECD, the U.S. is behind the other countries in the study in the numbers of doctors practicing here. Out of the 10 countries where information was available, surprisingly, the United States had the least number of working doctors per 1,000 population. Out of the 12 countries, the U.S. averages shorter hospital stays than 6 other countries in the study, with an average stay of 5.5 days for critical care. However, the U. S. somehow manages to charge the most to patients when they are discharged from the hospital. The average cost of being discharged from a hospital stay in the United States is $16,708. This considerable amount beats the other countries by a long shot! So, if the United States is spending more money on health care than any other country, and we have the least amount of doctors and shorter hospital stays, it makes you wonder where all of this money is going?!
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Anna Sexauer
11/4/2015 07:42:48 pm
I find it very interesting that in the United States, hospital rates are lower and stays are shorter. In 2008, 2.7/1000 people were using hospital beds compared to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) median of 3.3/1000. There are only two other countries that have lower or matched bed occupancy rate than the United States and they are New Zealand (2.2/1000) and Norway (2.7/1000). The average time spent in the hospital is 5.5 days, which is better than six other countries. However, I don’t find it surprising that there is a higher discharge cost. I am not surprised because the United States spends more money in the health care system than any other country. The United States spends $7,538 per capita and has a GDP of 16.0% on total health spending. This is more than double the OECD median of $2,995. In many counties, spending was less than half the United States figure.
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11/4/2015 07:43:02 pm
I found it interesting that hospital admission rates are lower and stays are shorter in the U.S.. The average length of a stay of hospital care in the U.S. was 5.5 days, which was shorter than six countries and the OECD median. Since 1980’s the length of stays has gone down in all countries including in the U.S.. I also found it interesting that the U.S. hospital stays were relatively infrequent and short, however hospital spendings per discharge far exceeded all other countries at $16,708. That is almost triple the OECD median which is $5,949. The U.S is the highest spending country per discharge and Canada is the second highest spending country with $12,669.(issues) The number of physicians in the United States and how the U.S. sees more admissions for chronic conditions is very interesting. In 2008, the U.S. had the fewest practicing physicians per 1000 population (2.43) among the 10 countries. The OECD median was 3.00. Of five conditions the U.S. had the highest admissions for asthma (120 per 100,000 population), congestive heart failure (441 per 100,000 population), and diabetes acute complications ( 57 per 100,000 population). (issues) Also the rates of survival of the three cancer in the U.S. is really interesting. From 2002 to 2007, the five year survival rate for breast cancer in the U.S. was 90.5 percent, the highest among the eight countries. The five year survival rate for colorectal cancer was also highest in the U.S. (65.5%). On cervical cancer, the U.S. (67.0%) ranked fourth out of eight the countries.(issues) The U.S. is highest out of six countries for the use of diagnostic images with CT and MRI exams performed. (228 and 91 per 100,000 population) And MRI’s in the U.S. were $1,200 per scan. The cost of a MRI in the U.S. is more than the eight other countries.(Issues)
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Robby Parker
11/4/2015 07:52:44 pm
I found it interesting that the United States Hospital Admission rates are lower and that the stays are also shorter compared to other developed countries. Also for the shorter time in the hospital Americans spend more money per discharge (Squires). In hospital supply, use, and spending the United States is neither the best among the developed countries nor the worst, but for the hospital spending per discharge from records in 2008 the U.S. spent 16,807 dollars which was by far the most compared to other countries on the chart (Squires). Canada was the closest to the U.S. in spending 12,669 dollars, and Netherland came shortly after spending 12,200 dollars (Squires). “ In 2008, the supply of acute-care hospital beds in the U.S. (2.7 per 1,000 population). Only New Zealand (2.2) and Norway (2.7) had fewer beds per 1,000, while Germany stood out with the most beds (5.7 per 1,000 population)” (Squires). I found it intriguing that the United States had less than the OECD median in every category on the chart for hospital spending. “ The average length of stay for acute care in the U.S. was 5.5 days, which was shorter than six countries and the OECD median, but longer than Sweden (4.5 days), Norway (4,8 days), and France (5.2 days) (Squires). Since 1980, the average length of stay has decreased in all of the countries on the chart. The hospital discharges for the U.S. were (130 per 1,000 population) which was under the OECD median of (161 per 1,000 population) (Squires).
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11/4/2015 07:53:53 pm
I found it interesting that the United States has the most drug use, highest prices, and most spending. Because the United States of America is a very unhealthy country, the use of prescribed drugs is major factor that contributes to the health of Americans. In a survey that was taken in 2010, it said that the adults living in the United States were most likely to take one prescription on a regular basis(61%) than the other countries that were involved in the survey, like France (45%) and Sweden (50%) (Squires). It also said that many adults in the United States take at least four prescription drugs on a regular basis (25%) (Squires).
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Jack Salm
11/4/2015 08:53:25 pm
Two topics that really caught my eye in this article was the amount of money the U.S spends on healthcare compared to other countries and why healthcare costs continue to rise in the United States. Regarding the amount of money we spend, it's quite interesting to see how it all breaks down regarding the amount spent in the public sector, private sector, and out of pocket, per capita. Although the amount spent in the public sector is lower for the United States compared to other countries, the amount spent in the private sector is over triple the amount compared to next highest country, over 3,000$ to 616, the next highest amount. So it really ponders at the question asked by many times regarding healthcare in the United States, is universal healthcare provided by the government a more cheaper and efficient system? Important factors to note when looking at this question are our population size compared to others, our economy structure compared to others, and our overall philosophy on how the government should operate. Other countries who have universal healthcare systems have much lower populations than the U.S., Germany second at 80 million. With the population at 330 million and surging, would the size of the U.S be conducive for such a healthcare system? Also, our economy is based off of mostly capitalism and free market, while the other countries in the chart have a more socialistic type economy. Would eliminating private insurance companies do more harm in the economy, or the lower prices of healthcare? Also, would the general public be willing to shift away from free market ideals of healthcare to government healthcare?
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Hayden
11/4/2015 10:08:13 pm
The most striking concept to me detailed in this article is the fact that Americans on average stay in the hospital for the shortest amount of time yet end up paying the most amount of money for each stay. The United States has seen several advancements in the medical field in technology and techniques causing these stays to become even shorter over time. Also, the United States was one of the first countries to promote advancing the medical field from merely local and town doctors so it already was a step ahead of other countries. As for the money, the prices of medicines is atrociously high. This is because Americans have put a high value on life and because, though this is theory, corporations have monopolized the medical field causing prices to skyrocket. Still in theory, these corporations only work on treating the symptoms of diseases in order to squeeze out as much money as they can from the public rather than working on a single cure that would end a disease such as cancer. Another concept that struck me was the fact that more Americans were admitted to hospitals for chronic diseases than anyone else. These diseases include asthma, congestive heart failure, diabetes, COPD, and hypertension. Individually, the United States had the highest admission rates for the first three listed diseases. Diabetes, a disease that can result from an unhealthy diet, comes as no surprise because everyone knows that Americans are some the most unhealthy people in the world. This idea that Americans are unhealthy should come as no surprise because it is already a preconceived stereotype and the numbers don't lie. So how do Americans cope with the troubles caused by their unhealthy habits? Americans go to the doctor to get treatment causing this high influx of patients.
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Jacob Mcclaskey
11/4/2015 10:40:20 pm
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OCED) reported that the United States spends the most money on Healthcare than Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. In 2008 the U.S. spent $7,538 per capita on Healthcare, which is more than double the OCED median of $2,995. However, the OCED noted that “The U.S. had a comparatively low number of hospital beds and physicians per capita, and patients in the U.S. had fewer hospital and physician visits than in most other countries. However, hospital spending per visit was highest in the U.S. Prescription drug utilization, prices, and spending all appeared highest in the U.S., as did the supply, utilization, and price of diagnostic imaging (Squires).” This shows, the United States tends to spend more money on the best type of drugs rather than the best type of doctor.
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Palmer Smith
11/4/2015 10:44:20 pm
Two articles that I found to be the most interesting and surprising was the supply, use, and price of diagnostic imaging in select OECD countries and the rates of in-hospital case-fatality within 30 days of admission in select OECD countries. I had no idea that the gap of medical diagnostic imaging instruments was so wide between the United States and other countries in 2008. The U.S. also had the most MRI machines (25.9 per million population) and was second to Australia in computerized tomography (CT) scanners (34.3 per million population)of the countries with available data, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, and United Kingdom. For example, the devices (MRI scanners) per million people in Australia was 5.6 while the United States was 25.9 in 2008. The question arises of, why are countries that are so advanced, some possibly even more than the United States, not have these certain medical devices that are so useful and are required to detect certain medical diagnosis’? Another example is in the numbers of CT scanner exams per 100,000 people in the Netherlands (60) compared to the United States (228). It surprised me to see that the United States had about the median number or higher of acute myocardial infarction stroke deaths per 100 people, hemorrhagic stroke deaths per 100 people, and ischemic stroke deaths per 100 people. The median deaths of each kind of stroke between the 10 OECD countries was 3.8, 23.5, and 4.9 (in the order listed in the previous sentence). The deaths per 100 people in the United States within 30 days of admission for acute myocardial infarction was 5.1 compared to Sweden or Denmark with only 2.9 deaths per 100 people. With the previous article in mind, why does the United States have an average or above average number of fatalities in-hospital when we have the most advanced medical technology and other countries such as Sweden and Denmark, which have significantly fewer machines per million people, are having fewer in-hospital deaths?
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Courtney Floyd
11/4/2015 11:05:58 pm
One of the more interesting things that I found in this article was the significant difference of drugs utilization, prices, and spending averages, between other countries and the United States. “According to The Commonwealth Fund 2010 International Health Policy Survey in 11 Countries, adults in the U.S. were the most likely to take at least one prescription drug regularly (61%) and to take at least four prescription drugs regularly (25%).” For adults taking at least one prescription drug regularly, the United States average, 61%, was actually close to the median, which was at 54%. However when it came to using more prescription drugs regularly, the United States was by far the highest at 25% and surpassed the median, at 17%. The United States was also the only country in the comparison to have an average over 18%. Based on 2008 averages, the United States also led in spending per capita, which was $897, by almost $200 more than the second highest spender, Canada, at $701. The article states that higher spending for drugs is due both to higher prices and a more expensive drug mix. Leading again, the US was ranked the highest for the annual growth rate per capita percentage from 1998-2008. At a 5.3% growth rate, the US was 1.8% higher than median, but was still close to Australia and Canada, at 4.9% and 4.8%. Surprisingly, the US was actually at the median and not leading in percentage of total health spending, which was at 11.9%. The article indicates that the United States ranking in the middle of a the majority of countries included in the analysis reflected the higher cost of the U.S. system as a whole.
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Katie Hart
11/4/2015 11:10:57 pm
I found it interesting that prescription drug utilization, prices, and spending all appeared highest in the U.S. In 2008, health care spending in the U.S. reached $7,538 per capita which is way more than any of the urge countries being compared and more than double the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) median of $2,995. The U.S. spent 16 percent of its GDP on health care which is also nearly double the OECD median (8.7%) and over 40 percent more than the country spending the second-largest share of GDP (France 11.2%).
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Elijah Turner
11/5/2015 12:35:21 am
I find it interesting that the U.S. spends the highest percentage of its GDP towards healthcare compared to other countries and the fact that Americans spend the most out of pocket money. According to the article, as of 2008 the U.S. spends 16% of its GDP, which is equal to $7,538 per capita, towards healthcare, the runner up is France spending 11.2% on healthcare. Although the U.S. spends the most on healthcare, it doesn't have the most physician and doctor visits and it's hospital visits are more expensive, making the spending somewhat inefficient. This spending isn't completely unnecessary, the U.S. has been able to support more patients with chronic diseases and help cancer patients survive even longer. The U.S. spends plenty of money to take care of its patients, but these same patients have to spend their own money to obtain proper medication. The U.S. has the highest percentage of pharmaceutical drug utilization and the highest prices for these drugs, causing out-of-pocket spending for the American patient to be higher than that of a patient in Norway. I was previously unaware to the high drug prices in the U.S. compared to other countries, but this article has taught me many things concerning healthcare worldwide.
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Emma Booker
11/5/2015 08:14:12 am
One concept that I found interesting in the article was that the main reason for such high health care prices in the United States is that much of the money is spent in the, “duplication of resources and extensive use of poorly coordinated specialists” and also the high prices of pharmaceuticals. The United States spends the most money of all the compared countries on health care, yet, instead of the money going towards more hospital beds, it is being spent on unneeded facilities. There are about 2.43 practicing physicians per 1,000 people and that is without examining their capability or if they are fraudulent. The article also discusses how it costs much more for the United States to have pharmaceuticals in comparison to New Zealand. New Zealand citizens will use the second most amount of prescriptions of the twelve compared countries yet they pay the least of all of them. The United States will spend 1.00:1.00 for its drug intake yet New Zealand spends 0.34:1.00 for its, and the percentage of adults taking prescription drugs in each country only differs by 6%. This is mostly because of, “nationally negotiated rates, reference pricing, and comparative cost-effectiveness review for new medications”, which are not used in the United States.
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Madison Wessells
11/5/2015 09:33:45 am
What interested me in this article was the high prescription drug use, and the high hospitalization of people with chronic conditions and amputations due to diabetes. drug utilization, pricing, and spending, the United States ranked higher than any of the other 11 nations studied. The article includes results of the 2010 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey which show that “adults in the U.S. were most likely to take at least one prescription drug regularly (61%) and to take at least four prescription drugs regularly (25%).” The lowest percentages of 40% and 10% respectively were listed by Switzerland, with only two-thirds of the adults taking a prescription regularly. The median for the 11 countries reporting (Denmark excluded) is 54% for adults taking one prescription drug regularly and 17% for taking four prescription drugs on a regular basis. The article also includes that Gerald Anderson’s analysis of IMS Health data from 2006-2007 regarding costs for 30 drugs prescribed on a regular basis was highest in the U.S.; Canada had the second highest costs of 0.77 compared to a U.S. price of 1.00. Prices in 4 of the 7 other countries studied were shown to be less than half those in the U.S. In 2008, data indicates that people in the U.S. spent $897 per capita for prescription drugs, the highest of the 12 countries. data from the same year provided by the McKinsey consulting firm which shows that the U.S. spends $98 billion per year more on prescription drugs than other countries with wealth would be expected to spend. Between 1998 and 2008, costs associated with prescription drug manufacturing in the U.S. grew at the rate of 5.3 percent, as compared to 0.8 percent in New Zealand and -0.8 percent in Norway. Taking into account the total costs of health care in the U.S., expenditures on prescription drugs account for only 11.9 percent, however, indicating that the nation’s health care is higher overall. The article also refers to the U.S. ranked highest for hospital admissions for asthma (120 per 100,000 population), congestive heart failure (441 per 100,000), and acute diabetes complications (57 per 100,000 population) in 2007. Among 11 countries, the U.S. ranked fifth highest in admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (203 per 100,000 population) and sixth highest for hypertension admissions among 10 countries (49 per 100,000 population). In addition, the U.S. had the highest number of admissions for lower-limb amputations related to diabetes for persons over age 15. According to the data that shows that health care costs in the U.S. for 2008 amounted to $7,538 per capita (16 percent of GDP), with an anticipated growth rate of 6.1 percent over a 10-year period beginning in 2009. While studies have looked at a long list of possible reasons for the increases in health care expenses in the U.S., the primary focus is now on reasons associated with “higher prices and more fragmented care delivery that leads to duplication of resources and extensive use of poorly coordinated specialist.”
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Elizabeth
11/5/2015 01:32:32 pm
I was shocked when I read the section on the United States spending the most on the top 30 most prescribed pharmaceutical drugs. In 2008 alone the United States spent $897 per capita on pharmaceutical drugs. This is all due to the fact that 61% of Americans take a prescription drug regularly, 25% take at least four regularly, and that the top 30 most commonly described drugs had the highest prices in the United States. With an extremely high amount of people with addiction, obesity, chronic diseases, and need for medical attention these drugs are priced quite expensively. Even generic brands of prescription drugs are pricey. Which seems odd since the demand is so high, and these drugs are not very scarce. Additionally, compared to other countries the United States also has fewer doctors per 1,000 people, and fewer doctor appointments. This is confusing considering the amount of prescription drugs being used. It would be assumed that these rates would directly correlate, but they do not.
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Rose Murphy
11/5/2015 01:51:24 pm
I find it interesting that, out of twelve countries surveyed, the United States spends more than twice the OECD, or Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, median on healthcare per capita, at seven thousand five hundred thirty-eight dollars compared to two thousand nine hundred ninety-five dollars, while it has fewer and shorter doctor visits than most of the other countries. However, although the visits are shorter and less frequent than the average, patients spent significantly more per visit than the average. Patients spent sixteen thousand seven hundred eight dollars which is almost triple the OECD average of five thousand nine hundred ninety-nine dollars. The United States as a whole spent sixteen percent of the GDP, or Gross Domestic Product, on healthcare, almost twice the OECD median. I was surprised to learn that the price of prescription drugs in the United States is higher than any of the other countries in the study and that they are prescribed more often. The country with the next highest prices, Canada, has prices that are only seventy-seven percent of the prices in the United States. Drugs are also prescribed at a higher rate than any of the other countries. Per capita, the United States spends eight hundred ninety-seven dollars on prescription drugs, almost twice that of the median spending of four hundred sixty-one dollars. The study shows that sixty-one percent of adults in the United States say they are on at least one prescription drug, which is the highest of all the countries, the next highest being Canada and the Netherlands with fifty-six percent. The median for adults taking prescription drugs regularly is fifty-four percent. Also, a quarter of American adults say they are on four prescription drugs, with Australia and New Zealand being the closest with eighteen percent of adults taking four prescription drugs, while the median is seventeen percent.
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Tristan Mariner
11/5/2015 04:15:37 pm
It's rather ironic that the United States has the most machines capable of scanning for diseases and creating cures, yet still charges more than any other country for MRI’s and CT Scans. Due to the fact that the United States government supplies little for a country with such high needs, many private insurance companies are able to charge high rates for basic health coverage.
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Ben
11/5/2015 05:33:15 pm
In the article, US Health Care System in Perspective, there was a wide variety of noteworthy facts about sending in the United States but two topics stuck out to me and peaked my interests. They are that the United States spends the most money on health care and that the United states is the leading spender on pharmaceutical drugs. As of healthcare, the U.S. pays the most money “out of pocket” and spends approximately 16% of its Gross Domestic Product or GDP according to the article. Out of all other industrialized nations, the U.S. is number one in health care funding. Even though healthcare is so expensive, it has its benefits because the U.S. has been successful in aiding patients with harmful and currently incurable diseases such as cancer to live longer than expected. However some spending is not efficient in the United States due to the low number of physicians making regular doctor’s visits much more expensive. In the U.S. the health care system has been turning into a more private-like organization and have steered away from a public run system. The high spending on pharmaceutical drugs in the United States is substantial is due to the high percentage of AMericans that take drugs prescribed by their doctors which is around 60%. Another reason is that the drugs that these patients were taking were expensive and cost the U.S. much more money to obtain them. A main reason why Americans take these prescription drugs is that the U.S. has one of the highest obesity rates in the world and one of the highest rate of people with chronic diseases such as cancer and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or COPD. Back to my previous statement about how there are fewer doctors and doctor visits in the U.S. makes these high numbers of prescriptions baffling as to say the least.
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