What is your definition of healthcare success? Long life? Low infant mortality? Coverage Rate? Avg age of population? Number of hospital beds per 1000? It has to be a balance to be fair.
So lets look at them overall.
First we will just go broad spectrum. Healthcare Spending vs Life Expectancy. How does the US fare when compared to the rest of the world?
Healthcare Spending vs. Life Expectancy (2021):
- United States: $12,318 per capita, life expectancy 77.0 years
- Germany: $7,383 per capita, life expectancy 81.3 years
- Canada: $5,905 per capita, life expectancy 82.3 years
- United Kingdom: $5,387 per capita, life expectancy 81.2 years
- Japan: $4,150 per capita, life expectancy 84.8 years
- Australia: $5,187 per capita, life expectancy 83.4 years
- Sweden: $5,671 per capita, life expectancy 82.4 years
- Norway: $7,065 per capita, life expectancy 82.9 years
- Netherlands: $6,697 per capita, life expectancy 82.1 years
- Switzerland: $8,179 per capita, life expectancy 83.8 years
Wow, we outspend everyone by a minimum of a 4:3 ratio and have shorter lives than the rest of the industrialized world by about 4 years. Lets see where we rank on each list amongst the 25 largest gdp nations.
Healthcare Spending as a Percentage of GDP (2021): Lower is typically more cost-efficient
- India: 3.0%
- Indonesia: 3.1%
- Thailand: 3.8%
- Turkey: 4.3%
- Russia: 5.3%
- Mexico: 5.5%
- Saudi Arabia: 5.7%
- Taiwan: 6.4%
- Poland: 6.5%
- South Korea: 8.2%
- Brazil: 9.2%
- Spain: 9.0%
- Italy: 9.7%
- Australia: 9.3%
- United Kingdom: 10.2%
- Canada: 10.7%
- France: 11.2%
- Germany: 11.7%
- Netherlands: 10.9%
- Sweden: 10.9%
- Belgium: 10.7%
- Japan: 10.8%
- Switzerland: 12.2%
- Norway: 10.5%
- United States: 17.8%
Wow. So we don’t just spend more per bad outcome, we also spend a larger portion of our actual gross domestic product that ALL of the other 25 top economies?
Life Expectancy at Birth (Years, 2021):
- Japan: 84.8
- Switzerland: 83.8
- South Korea: 83.5
- Australia: 83.4
- Spain: 83.4
- Italy: 83.6
- France: 82.5
- Sweden: 82.4
- Canada: 82.3
- Netherlands: 82.1
- Norway: 82.9
- Belgium: 81.6
- Germany: 81.3
- United Kingdom: 81.2
- Taiwan: 80.9
- Poland: 78.3
- Thailand: 77.2
- United States: 77.0
- Turkey: 77.7
- Argentina: 76.6
- Saudi Arabia: 75.3
- Brazil: 75.9
- Mexico: 75.1
- Russia: 71.5
- India: 69.7
- Indonesia: 71.7
At least the US doesn’t have the shortest life expectency on this list. Nope below us are the BRICS nations, Saudi Arabias slave kingdom, Argentina’s failed states and Turkey. We are behind the entire “western world” though.
Kind of the same results for infant mortality.
Infant Mortality Rate (Per 1,000 Live Births, 2021):
- Japan: 1.9
- Sweden: 2.1
- Italy: 2.6
- South Korea: 2.7
- Spain: 2.7
- Germany: 3.2
- Belgium: 3.3
- Switzerland: 3.3
- Netherlands: 3.6
- France: 3.5
- United Kingdom: 3.9
- Poland: 3.8
- Australia: 3.1
- Canada: 4.5
- Taiwan: 4.2
- United States: 5.4
- Russia: 5.0
- Saudi Arabia: 5.7
- Argentina: 8.4
- Turkey: 8.7
- Thailand: 7.8
- Brazil: 12.4
- Mexico: 12.1
- Indonesia: 20.2
- India: 27.7
The US isn’t the worst….but its still a pretty embarrassing position for the richest nation in history.
Especially when you consider some of the other statistical outcomes.
Public Healthcare Coverage Rate vs. Outcomes (2021):
- United States: 91.4% coverage, life expectancy 77.0 years
- Germany: 100% coverage, life expectancy 81.3 years
- Canada: 100% coverage, life expectancy 82.3 years
- United Kingdom: 100% coverage, life expectancy 81.2 years
- Japan: 100% coverage, life expectancy 84.8 years
- Australia: 100% coverage, life expectancy 83.4 years
- Sweden: 100% coverage, life expectancy 82.4 years
- Norway: 100% coverage, life expectancy 82.9 years
- Netherlands: 100% coverage, life expectancy 82.1 years
- Switzerland: 100% coverage, life expectancy 83.8 years
Physicians per 1,000 Population vs. Health Outcomes (2021):
- United States: 2.6 physicians, life expectancy 77.0 years
- Germany: 4.3 physicians, life expectancy 81.3 years
- Canada: 2.8 physicians, life expectancy 82.3 years
- United Kingdom: 3.0 physicians, life expectancy 81.2 years
- Japan: 2.5 physicians, life expectancy 84.8 years
- Australia: 3.8 physicians, life expectancy 83.4 years
- Sweden: 4.3 physicians, life expectancy 82.4 years
- Norway: 4.8 physicians, life expectancy 82.9 years
- Netherlands: 3.6 physicians, life expectancy 82.1 years
- Switzerland: 4.4 physicians, life expectancy 83.8 years
Hospital Beds vs. Healthcare Costs (2021):
- Switzerland: 4.5 beds per 1,000, $8,179 per capita
- United States: 2.8 beds per 1,000, $12,318 per capita
- Germany: 8.0 beds per 1,000, $7,383 per capita
- Canada: 2.5 beds per 1,000, $5,905 per capita
- United Kingdom: 2.5 beds per 1,000, $5,387 per capita
- Japan: 12.8 beds per 1,000, $4,150 per capita
- Australia: 3.8 beds per 1,000, $5,187 per capita
- Sweden: 2.1 beds per 1,000, $5,671 per capita
- Norway: 3.5 beds per 1,000, $7,065 per capita
- Netherlands: 3.3 beds per 1,000, $6,697 per capita
All in all the data is pretty clear. Single Payer is a more efficient than a competitive insurance system. Lets make a good business decision and think about our next steps.
