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Understand Your Health Insurance? A New Study Casts Doubt
Why we pay more for healthcare and get less for our money
As Americans, we should all be outraged.
According to a Commonwealth Fund report, “The U.S. is a world outlier when it comes to health care spending,” yet we don’t get what we’re paying for — better health outcomes.
We Pay More to Get Less
In 1980, we were already at the high end of developed economies, at 8.2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). But the latest data show we’ve more than doubled that since, to 17.8%.
Germany, in second place, spends just 12.8% of its (far lower) GDP, while the average for the 12 non-US developed countries stands at 11.1%.
The report states that in absolute dollar terms, “Health spending per person in the U.S. was nearly two times higher than in the closest country, Germany, and four times higher than in South Korea.”
And lest you think this means we get better health outcomes, the report shows life expectancy in the US, at 77, is lower than all 12 of those other countries. The next lowest was the UK, at 80.4, and the average was 82.6, over five years longer than us.
