U.S. spends the most but ranks last in health compared with other high-income nations, new report says
Americans, despite spending the most on healthcare, are the sickest and die the youngest compared with nine other high-income nations, according to a new report.
The report, released Thursday by independent research group The Commonwealth Fund, found the United States has the worst-performing health care system overall despite spending the most of any nation in the study.
Using data from World Health Organization and more since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, the study looked at five key health care measures, including health equity, access to care, care process, administrative efficiency and health outcomes.
Here's how the countries ranked based on overall score:
1. Australia
2. Netherlands
3. United Kingdom
4. New Zealand
5. France
6. Sweden
7. Canada
8. Switzerland
9. Germany
10. United States
"Differences in overall performance between most countries are relatively small, but the only clear outlier is the U.S., where health system performance is dramatically lower," the report states.
In addition to ranking last overall, the U.S. also ranked lowest for specific health measures including access to care to health outcomes. Australia and the Netherlands, the two countries with the highest overall rankings, also have the lowest health care spending while the U.S. spends the most among the group.
"When it comes to life expectancy and avoidable deaths, the U.S. comes in last," the report's news release noted.
But, all countries have strengths and weaknesses despite their overall rankings.
"No country is at the top or bottom on all areas of performance. Even the top-ranked country — Australia — does less well, for example, on measures of access to care and care process. And even the U.S., with the lowest-ranked health system, ranks second in the care process domain," the report states.
