The U.S. Health Care System
Twice the Cost, Lower Medical Standards, 15% of the Population Uninsured
There are several international standards by which the health care systems in the various countries of the World can be measured. One of these standards is the cost of medical care. By dividing the total health care costs in a country for a given year by its population in that same year, we arrive at the health costs per capita in that country. To compare the per capita cost in one country against other countries, we need to to state these per capita costs in a common currency -- the U.S. dollar, the British pound, the Japanese Yen, and so on.
Per Capita Costs
In 1997, the last year for which we have per capita costs for the United States and a number of foreign countries, the per capita cost for health care in the United States was $3,912 in 1997 U.S. dollars. As we can see below, the per capita costs in most of the other First World countries in that same year was about one-half to less than one-half that of the United States.
U.S. Dollar Amount and Percentage of U.S. Per Capita Cost (from Table 114, Health, United States, 2000)
60% to 65% -- two countries:
Switzerland ($2,611-66.7%), Germany ($2,364- 60.4%)
50% to 59% -- six countries:
Luxembourg ($2,303-58.9%), Canada ($2,175-55.6%), France ($2,047-52.3%), Denmark ($2,042-52.2%), Norway ($2,017- 51.6%), Iceland ($1,981-50.6%)
40% to 49% -- seven countries:
Netherlands ($1,933-49.4%), Australia ($1,909-48.8%), Austria ($1,905-48.7%, Belgium ($1,768 - 45.2%), Sweden ($1,762-45.0%), Japan ($1,760-45.0%), Italy ($1,613-41.2%)
30% to 39% -- six countries
Finland ($1,525-39.0%), United Kingdom ($1,391-35.6%), New Zealand ($1,357-34.7%), Ireland ($1,293-33.1%), Greece ($1,196-30.6%), Spain ($1,183-30.2%)
20% to 29.3% -- three countries:
Portugal ($1,148-29.3%), Czech Republic ($943 - 24.1%), Republic of Korea ($870 - 22.2%)
0% to 19% - three countries:
Hungary ($642-16.4%), Poland ($386-9.9%) Mexico ($363-9.3%), Turkey ($259) 6.6%
Child deaths (Under-5 Mortality Rates)
The UNICEF 2000 Report on the state of the World's children provides us with a number of other health standard statistics. One of these is the "Under-five mortality rates" -- the percentage of deaths in children from date of birth to exactly five years of age per 1,000 live births. In the UNICEF 2000 report on 199 countries, the three countries with the highest rates of death in 1998 are the African nations of Sierra Leone (316 deaths), Angola (292 deaths), and Niger (280 deaths).
At the other end of the scale, the three countries with the lowest rate of under-five deaths, are Japan, Norway, and Sweden.
Rate of under-five deaths (per 1,000 live births)/rank (lowest to highest) per 1997 per capita health costs as a percentage of the U.S. per capita health cost in 1997:
Four deaths per thousand live births -- three countries
1. Sweden (45.0%)
2. Japan (45.0%)
3. Norway (51.6%)
Five deaths per thousand live births --fourteen countries (17 total)
Republic of Korea (22.2%)
Finland (39.0%),
Austria (48.7%),
Australia (48.8%),
Netherlands, (49.4%)
Iceland (50.6%),
Denmark (52.2%),
France (52.3 %),
Luxembourg (58.9%),
Germany (60.4%),
Switzerland (66.7%)
Monaco (no per capita data)
Singapore (no per capita data)
Slovenia (no per capita data)
Six deaths per thousand live births - ten countries (27 total)
Czech Republic (24.1%)
Spain (30.2%)
New Zealand (34.7%)
United Kingdom (35.6%)
Italy (41.2%)
Belgium (45.2%)
Canada (55.6%)
Andorra (no per capita data)
Israel (no per capita data)
San Marino (no per capita data)
Seven deaths per thousand live births -- three countries (30 total)
Greece (30.6%),
Ireland (33.1%)
Malta (no per capita data)
Eight deaths per thousand live births - two countries
United States
Cuba (no per capita data)
Nine deaths per thousand live births - four countries
Portugal ( 29.3%)
Brunei (no per capita data)
Croatia (no per capita data)
Cyprus (no per capita data)
Thus, the United States, with the highest per capita health care costs in the World ranks behind thirty other countries in the World in the under-five mortality rate , including a number of countries whose per capita health costs are a third, a fourth, or even one-fifth that of the United States.
Life Expectancy.
Another international health care standard in the UNICEF 2000 report is "Life Expectancy at birth (in years) for 1998." Again Japan leads the World with a life expectancy of 80 years.
Life Expectancy at Birth - 1998
80 years -one country
Japan
79 years - four countries (total five)
Sweden,
Iceland,
Switzerland
Canada
78 years -- eight countries (total thirteen)
Norway
Australia
France
Netherlands
Israel
Italy
Spain
Greece
77 years -- ten countries
the United States and nine other countries.