Question

1. identify how the cost of medical care in the us compares to the cost of medical care in other countries

2. how the health status in the us population compares with other countries

3. does the cost of care in the us equate to a better health

4. factors associated with the cost of medical care in the us

Answer 1

1. The United States Spends More on Healthcare per Person than Other Wealthy Countries. ... In 2019, the United States spent about $11,100 per person on healthcare — the highest healthcare cost per capita across the globe.

In 2018, the U.S. spent 16.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on health care, nearly twice as much as the average OECD country. The second-highest ranking country, Switzerland, spent 12.2 percent. At the other end of the spectrum, New Zealand and Australia devote only 9.3 percent, approximately half as much as the U.S. does. The share of the economy spent on health care has been steadily increasing since the 1980s for all countries because health spending growth has outpaced economic growth.

Per capita health spending in the U.S. exceeded $10,000, more than two times higher than in Australia, France, Canada, New Zealand, and the U.K. Public spending, including governmental spending, social health insurance, and compulsory private insurance, is comparable in the U.S. and many of the other nations and constitutes the largest source of health care spending.

2.

The U.S. spends more on health care as a share of the economy — nearly twice as much as the average OECD country — yet has the lowest life expectancy and highest suicide rates among the 11 nations.

• The U.S. has the highest chronic disease burden and an obesity rate that is two times higher than the OECD average.
• Americans had fewer physician visits than peers in most countries, which may be related to a low supply of physicians in the U.S.
• Americans use some expensive technologies, such as MRIs, and specialized procedures, such as hip replacements, more often than our peers.
• The U.S. outperforms its peers in terms of preventive measures — it has the one of the highest rates of breast cancer screening among women ages 50 to 69 and the second-highest rate (after the U.K.) of flu vaccinations among people age 65 and older.
• Compared to peer nations, the U.S. has among the highest number of hospitalizations
• from preventable causes and the highest rate of avoidable deaths.

3. Although the rate of growth in spending has attenuated in recent years, per capita spending on health care is estimated to be 50 to 200 percent greater in the United States than in other economically developed countries. Despite leading the world in costs, however, the United States ranks twenty-sixth in the world for life expectancy and ranks poorly on other indicators of quality.

Evidence of the low value of United States health care has led researchers to try to identify specific sources of wasteful spending. Many of these efforts have evaluated regional variation in spending patterns—particularly Medicare spending—within the United States.

The cost of care would make the health care better in US if adequate steps are taken.

4. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States approves a drug or device if it is shown to be safe and effective. For drugs, the FDA approval process relies mainly on the comparison of a single treatment to an extant treatment or placebo. Standards are less stringent for medical devices: many are cleared for market under the “510(k)” provision, which requires only that a device be substantially equivalent to another device already on the market. There is no requirement for new drugs or devices to be more effective or less costly than existing approved regimens. Payers, such as Medicare, have adopted these new technologies without considering cost effectiveness or comparative effectiveness. As a result, expensive new therapies are adopted without good evidence that they improve patient outcomes. A recent example comes from the approval of new cancer drugs, which can cost well over $100,000 per year and are often expected to extend life for little more than a month.

Five factors contribute to the rise in health care costs in the US:

(1) more people

(2) an aging population

(3) changes in disease prevalence or incidence

(4) increases in how often people use health care services

(5) increases in the price and intensity of services.