U.S. Health System “A Dysfunctional Mess”

The U.S. health care system is a "dysfunctional mess," and politicians who say it is the best in the world appear "clueless rather than patriotic or authoritative," NIH ethicist Ezekiel Emanuel writes in a Journal of the American Medical Association commentary, AP/Long Island Newsday reports.

Emanuel notes that although the U.S. spends more than 16% of its gross domestic product on health care -- more than any other country -- the U.S. life expectancy of 78 years ranks 45th in the world and the infant death rate of 6.37 per 1,000 live births is higher than in most developed countries. Emanuel proposes a gradual elimination of Medicare, Medicaid and the employer-sponsored health system and the creation of a system that would provide basic health insurance to all U.S. residents.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall:

An International Update on the Comparative Performance of American Health Care
By Karen Davis, Ph.D., Cathy Schoen, M.S., Stephen C. Schoenbaum, M.D., M.P.H., Michelle M. Doty, Ph.D., M.P.H.,
Alyssa L. Holmgren, M.P.A., Jennifer L. Kriss, and Katherine K. Shea, The Commonwealth Fund May 15, 2007

“Despite having the most costly health system in the world, the United States consistently underperforms on most dimensions of performance, relative to other countries.”

“We really could have the best health care system in the world”
Quote-of-the-day mailing list:  Quote-of-the-day@mccanne.org

“Many of the major deficiencies noted in the United States are specifically due to our highly flawed system of financing health care. We will always be at the bottom until (1) we remove financial barriers to care by providing comprehensive health insurance for everyone, and (2) we reinforce our primary care infrastructure, ensuring an accessible medical home for everyone.

 A systematic review of studies comparing health outcomes
in Canada and the United States

By Gordon H. Guyatt, P.J. Devereaux, Joel Lexchin, Samuel B. Stone, Armine Yalnizyan, David Himmelstein, Steffie Woolhandler,
Qi Zhou, Laurie J. Goldsmith, Deborah J. Cook, Ted Haines, Christina Lacchetti, John N. Lavis, Terrence Sullivan, Ed Mills,
Shelley Kraus, Neera Bhatnagar Open Medicine A peer-reviewed, independent, open-access journal. Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007)

“Policy debates and decisions regarding the direction of health care in both Canada and the United States should consider the results of our systematic review: Canada's single-payer system, which relies on not-for-profit delivery, achieves health outcomes that are at least equal to those in the United States at two-thirds the cost.”

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