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Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Health Care Reform Articles - June 18, 2014

2014 UPDATE
MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL
How the Performance of the U.S. Health Care System Compares Internationally
Karen Davis, Kristof Stremikis, David Squires, and Cathy Schoen June 2014 
ABSTRACT
The United States health care system is the most expensive in the world, but comparative analyses consistently show the U.S. underperforms relative to other countries on most dimensions of performance. Among the 11 nations studied in this report—Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States—the U.S. ranks last, as it did in prior editions of Mirror, Mirror. The United Kingdom ranks first, followed closely by Switzerland. Since the data in this study were collected, the U.S. has made significant strides adopting health information technology and undertaking payment and delivery system reforms spurred by the Affordable Care Act. Continued implementation of the law could further encourage more affordable access and more efficient organi- zation and delivery of health care, and allow investment in preventive and population health measures that could improve the performance of the U.S. health care system.
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/%7E/media/files/publications/fund-report/2014/jun/1755_davis_mirror_mirror_2014.pdf

American 'Healthcare' Exceptionalism: Highest Costs, Worst Care

New report exposes failures of for-profit system and prompts renewed calls for universal care

- Sarah Lazare, staff writer
new report reveals that the the U.S. health care system is the most expensive in the world yet delivers the worst care among 11 industrialized nations, in what critics charge is further proof that the private insurance model is broken.
"The only solution is to move away from the private insurance model that keeps costs up and real care down," Drew Joy, member of the Southern Maine Workers Center,told Common Dreams. "What we need is a publicly and equitably funded universal health care system, and in order to get it we must organize for our human rights."
Released on Monday by the Commonwealth Fund, the report examines Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, looking at patient and physician surveys as well as data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Health Organization.
The U.S.'s dismal rating is not new. The country has come in dead last every year this survey has been produced—in 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2010—with lack of access to health care, failures in equitability, and inefficiencies cited as key reasons for its latest low-ranking. In the report, the U.S. scores last in "mortality amenable to medical care, infant mortality, and healthy life expectancy at age 60."
Low-income people in the U.S., the report notes, are "much more likely than their counterparts in other countries to report not visiting a physician when sick; not getting a recommended test, treatment, or follow-up care; or not filling a prescription or skipping doses when needed because of costs."
One of the key reasons for this is due to a U.S. private health insurance system that saddles people with high out-of-pocket expenses and "unstable coverage" that is rarely portable and often based on employment status.
"People don't deserve health care in relation to how much money they have. They deserve health care because they are human beings."
"In the U.S., if you lose your job you lose insurance. If your income changes you lose eligibility. People can quickly change from being insured to uninsured," said David Squires, a co-author of the report, in an interview with Common Dreams. "There is also the issue of coverage that isn't sufficient to cover the cost of care. We talk about the under-insured—people who have health insurance but it is not enough."


Dr. Arnold Relman, ex-N.E. Journal of Medicine editor, dies at 91

Was a forceful voice in health care debate

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