The $43.4 million Global Flourishing Study aims to explore the impact of social determinants on overall health, including stress, trauma, social isolation, racism, poverty, and lack of education. Researchers found that people who maintained five healthy lifestyle factors lived more than a decade longer than those who didn’t maintain any of these factors. For a long, healthy life, seven key lifestyle behaviors include getting enough sleep, eating a healthy diet, being physically active, and maintaining a healthy body.
According to Statista Consumer Insights, 50% of Americans claim to actively try to eat healthy, with the attitude being most prevalent among Baby Boomers at 58%. However, 44% of Gen Z are pursuing the aim. A recent study found that only 3 of the adult population lives a healthy lifestyle, with 80 of millennials considering health benefits when selecting foods compared to 64 of baby boomers.
A survey assessing Americans’ health-related behaviors and attitudes found that 71 rate their overall health and wellness as good or excellent. Researchers say 97% of Americans are failing to meet ideal “healthy lifestyle” criteria that can protect their hearts. A poll by Nutrisystem and OnePoll found that over 70 of Americans are more conscious of their physical health post the COVID pandemic. The most common barrier to a healthier diet is that almost half of Americans view healthy food as being more expensive.
A massive 66 percent of the global population is paying more attention to their overall health now than before COVID-19, and around 4 in 10 global respondents want to become healthier. A healthy lifestyle should be promoted at all ages, but studies have shown that practicing a healthy lifestyle may not always result in satisfactory outcomes.
📹 What experts say about who has the world’s best health-care system | Opinion
The U.S. health-care system is broken, but do other countries have it better? Seven leading health economists and public policy …
Which generation eats the healthiest?
Gen Z prioritizes overall wellness, including mental health and nutrition, and is increasingly seeking restaurants that prioritize sustainability, environmental impact, and locally sourced ingredients. To increase restaurant sales in 2024, consider incorporating these Gen Z food trends. A general population survey by Toast revealed that speed of service is a top priority for Gen Z restaurant-goers. By focusing on these trends, restaurant operators can cater to this growing customer base and boost their overall success.
What percent of the world is without healthcare?
The expansion of essential health services has slowed since 2015, with no improvement observed from 2019 to 2021. Although infectious diseases have seen significant gains since 2000, noncommunicable diseases and reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health services have not seen significant improvement. In 2021, about 4. 5 billion people, more than half of the global population, were not fully covered by essential health services. The COVID-19 pandemic has not yet impacted the long-term impacts of these services.
Financial hardship due to out-of-pocket health spending is worsening, with catastrophic out-of-pocket payments exceeding 10 of a household budget impacting 14 out of the global population. These payments can push 1. 3 billion individuals into poverty, including 300 million already living in extreme poverty. Out-of-pocket health payments can also lead to foregory of essential care, forcing families to choose between doctor visits, food and water, or school attendance. Addressing this issue requires progressive health financing policies that exempt those with limited ability to pay for health services.
What percent of Americans are healthy?
A study published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings revealed that only 2. 7% of American adults exhibited four fundamental healthy lifestyle characteristics: sufficient physical activity, a healthy diet, non-smoking, and a body fat percentage within the recommended range. These characteristics have a beneficial impact on overall health.
Does Gen Z care about health?
Research by McKinsey reveals that Gen Z is most interested in wellness spending focused on appearance and overall health, outspending older consumers on mindfulness-related products like meditation classes, mindfulness apps, and therapy sessions. 56% of Gen Z consumers in the US say fitness is a “very high priority”, compared to 40% of US consumers overall. Gen Z’s interest in health and wellness at a young age may be due to their increased exposure to health and wellness information, such as FitTok, which has amassed over 64 billion views.
The COVID-19 pandemic may have coincided with Gen Z’s formative years, and they are seeking friends in “third places”, such as gyms or fitness classes, to stave off loneliness. This highlights the growing interest in wellness among younger generations, not just older generations.
What percent of Americans are not healthy?
A study by Oregon State University found that only 2. 7% of Americans follow a healthy lifestyle, including maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, getting moderate exercise, and eating a balanced diet. The study, which surveyed over 4, 700 participants in the U. S. National Health and Nutrition Survey, aimed to assess the behavior of these individuals, aiming to reflect general health and wellness advice doctors typically give to patients. The results showed that only 71% of the surveyed population did not smoke, only 46% got enough exercise, 38% had a balanced diet, and only 10% had a normal body fat percentage.
What percent of the population is completely healthy?
Researchers analyzed information on over 300 diseases and conditions in 188 countries, finding that only 4. 3% of people had no health problems. The likelihood of having any disease or condition increased with age, with 64 percent of children under 5 in developed countries having a health problem in 2013 compared to 99. 97 percent of adults aged 80 and older. About 2. 3 billion people worldwide had more than five health ailments, with 65 percent of people aged 80 and over in developed countries having five to nine health ailments.
Some conditions affected over 10% of the world’s population, including cavities in permanent teeth, tension headaches, iron-deficiency anemia, hearing loss, and genital herpes. In 2013, there were over 18 billion cases of upper respiratory infections and over 2 billion cases of diarrhea diseases.
What percentage of people want to be healthy?
Around half of Americans are healthy eaters, with 50% actively trying to eat healthy, with the majority being Baby Boomers (58%). Gen Z is also pursuing this goal (44%). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that over 36% of Americans regularly consume fast food, with a third of them eating from fast food restaurants daily. A Cleveland Clinic survey revealed that 46% of US adults believe the price of healthy foods is a barrier to eating healthy foods, with nearly 25% having little time to cook and 20% not knowing how to cook healthy foods.
What percentage of Americans have health care?
In the year 2022, the number was 92. In 2022, 100% of the population had health insurance coverage, with 7. 9% remaining uninsured for the entire year.
What generation is most concerned about health?
The cohort of individuals currently classified as “Millennials” is distinguished by a heightened level of consciousness regarding matters of personal health and a proclivity for proactive measures in this regard. Compared to their parents and grandparents, this demographic is more inclined to invest in fitness, healthy food, and self-care.
What percentage of the US is unhealthy?
A 2019 study demonstrated that 88% of Americans exhibit metabolic dysfunction, resulting in the development of conditions that impair their quality of life.
What percentage of the population are healthy?
The majority of the UK population (75. 3 men and 75. 7 women) reported good or very good health, with nearly half having a long-standing health problem. More women (22. 3) reported being limited in activities due to a health problem in the last six months than men (18. 5). The four most common chronic conditions in the UK for men and women are allergy, high blood pressure, low back disorder, and depression, with allergy being the most common chronic health condition in both genders (30. 4 and 36. 0, respectively).
📹 Who Pays for Health Care? Depends on Where You Live | WSJ
The coronavirus pandemic has revived a debate over one of the most divisive concepts in American politics: Should patients have …
Australian here. Wife had AAA. Three hospitals in 24 hours. Flown out mid operation from one hospital to another. ICU for a month. Hospital for 3 months. Dozen+ operations. Ongoing treatment and follow up operations (removal of stoma bag, mesh in stomach etc) and hospital stays. Lost most of her small bowel and belly button. Cost? Parking for me and snacks. And that’s just the biggest example I’ve got. She’s also been in since for a heart operation, as have I after a heart attack. Parking is the main cost and Australians get cranky about it.
I just had open heart surgery. The most difficult part of the whole process from diagnosis to recovery was fighting off the insurance company. This is the USA health care system. Only one day after surgery, I start getting notices that my insurance will not pay. They even sent a rep to the ICU to tell anyone who would listen. They eventually did pay, but it was a tough battle that left me feeling beat down.
As a Norwegian who cares a lot about health care and have lived in the US and the Netherlands and experienced the health care there was well I think the interview here echo a lot of my own experiences and views even if I think you miss a lot by just listening to a bunch of experts in America who have never actually lived abroad and experienced these systems for themselves. It is true like these guys say that nobody has figured out everything. We all struggle with health care systems in every country. In fact everyone is often so frustrated with their own system that you may not always realize how good it is. I was very negative to the Norwegian system until I lived in the US. But my experience in the US was definitely mixed. Certain things worked very well in the US: 1. Often very highly competent doctors. 2. Proactive doctors. Good at asking pointed questions. 3. Emergency response is very good. Here is what I found clearly bad in the US system: 1. Zero holistic thinking. Health care is like a product you buy off the shelf like any other consumer good. There isn’t much of an attempt at raising general health in the population. In many other European countries one starts much earlier focusing on how people eat, teaching nutrition, getting kids to have health habits etc. In the US this aspects seems to be entirely lacking. 2. You are a customer more than a patient. They often focus more on making you satisfied with the service rather than doing what is best for you as a patient.
Many Americans seem unaware that in much of the EU, as well as having “universal healthcare” available to all, you can also choose private healthcare, since there are plenty of private hospitals which you can pay out of your own pocket or via private medical insurance. Most people are perfectly happy with the universal system, so see no need to use the private hospitals, but some people do prefer them. That is, you have choices in the EU that are simply not available in the US, where only the private healthcare system exists.
No one mentioned that it should be available to all citizens. What good is a system that cures you and leaves you bankrupt. There should be no profit being made by insurance companies who will benefit by providing the lowest level of care. I don’t want to be on a phone call with some company arguing that my son needs care that they say is not part of my plan. The US system is meant to generate profits first and healthcare second
I am a UK citizen in the UK, but I lived in the USA for 14 years. In my experience, US healthcare is very expensive — everyone up and down the chain takes a cut and unnecessary tests and treatments are made to avoid litigation — and the quality of US healthcare is not good. We experienced malpractice in the USA. A condition which should have been noticed and diagnosed was missed, but it was picked up by our National Health Service immediately when we returned to the UK. We also experienced incompetence at a major US hospital. Frankly, I like the UK system. In which we pay for healthcare in our taxes — those who have greater income pay more — and when you need treatment or care, it is free for everyone. Sickness is not a luxury you save for, it is a misfortune. If you lose your job you still get free care here. If you have a serious or long term illness, like cancer or diabetes, you receive the treatment you need. You are not bankrupted by illness. When our NHS was introduced in 1948, it was discovered that many people were sick but going to work because they could not afford to see a doctor. An unhealthy workforce is less efficient and less productive. A large proportion of US citizens profess to be Christians. Socialised medicine fits very well with Christian values.
The best health care in the world is when a patient goes home and not worry bout anything including financial problems that may arise when the bill comes up. Because when you see your bill amounting to 5 to 6, even 7 digits, stress and depression arises. And possibly losing a whole chunk of hard-earned lifetime earnings, if not selling properties just to pay for that health debt.
I scoff when Americans talk about waiting times. My American friend was diagnosed with a heart defect, that diagnosis leaving him with a $16,000 bill he will never pay, and it took Medicare two years to approve his heart surgery. Even people waiting on elective surgeries (i.e. removing a mole) in Canada generally aren’t waiting two years, and if you need medically life saving surgery you aren’t waiting at all. To reiterate my point my dad had to get stents put in his neck. He was admitted to ICU the same day the diagnosis was made and he was put on 24 hour watch by nurses. The reason he didn’t get surgery the same day was because he had to be put on medication first that was necessary for the surgery.
I paid $400 for a kidney transplant operation, which costs about 200K in the states. I pay $6 a month for my transplant meds, which actually cost over $3,000. The Japanese National Healthcare on based on your income. In America after 3 years they cut your Medicare for meds. Terrible Healthcare system.
So I am an Indian, who has lived in the US and now I live in Germany. Indian system is fully private, yet very affordable and the quality of the doctors and nurses is also very good. Depending on the type of problem, one can acquire great care.The German system is expensive (because of taxes) but very reliable and dependable and is very closely interconnected to the employment. The system in the US is very very expensive and absolutely the worst. In the US, despite of having a decent insurance, one ends up being poor because of something silly. I remember being fetched to the hospital in an Ambulance because I collapsed. But I later regretted paying a ridiculous amount of money for nothing they did. I had a ‘better’ insurance they said.
I am Australian. . Recently my 45 year old unemployed son contracted viral encephalitis and was taken from his home by ambulance and admitted to a large public hospital in Melbourne, Victoria. He was at first very unsteady on his feet and would pass out every now and then. . . After 2 days he became ‘confused’ and then delusional and violent and had to be strapped to his bed for 7 days. There were numerous lumbar punctures performed. . . . MRI scans were done (three I think. . but at least 2 that I know of for sure) He had 24-hour one-on-one care to monitor his condition and behaviour for just over 2 weeks. . That is, he had a hospital employee (not quite a nurse, but a trained person) sit inside his private room or just outside the door, so they were in direct line-of sight with him at all times. He had all meals provided by the hospital. He had constant infusions of anti-bacterial and anti-viral medications . . Literally one after the other around the clock. . . For 9 days until he was well again And he had steroid infusions (to reduce brain swelling) every 4 hours. . He had multiple doctors, psychiatrists and psychologists come and examine him and consult with him while he was in the hospital. After 20 days in the hospital, he was sent home with further medication provided by the pharmacy at the hospital that he had to take for the following 2 weeks. The bill that he had to pay for all this? . . . ZERO!*. . . Nothing. . . . It was *FREE . . . That is the Australian national health system.
The key word is “solidarity”. It’s really absurd to see how clearly all of these experts know this term and know that it would be the most appropriate description of “the rich helping the poor, the healthy helping the sick” etc., but avoid to say it all all costs because the political perception of the average US viewer is so skewed that the mere mention of it would provoke a hailstorm of “socialism” accusations.
As a California native who sold out and moved to the south of France in 2007, there is no comparison. As a mental health professional, I saw too many people denied access to even basic health care. And now, you have the additional challenge of depriving women of necessary health care. If America could sink any further down that list, they are certainly doing all they can to make things even worse. I am more grateful each day to live where I do. I only wish that those back in America could depend on their healthcare system.
“For a lot of people, regardless of income, this is probably the country you would want to get your healthcare.” Of course, and regardless of my income, the Penthouse Suite at The Mark, is where I would like to spend my vacation in New York city. Will I get it, at 75k per night? Not a chance. But I would sure want it. “Regardless of income” 🤦🤦🏼♂️🤦♀️
“protect people from financial ruin” is not the same thing as “affordable and accessible for everyone”, i don’t think anyone needs to wonder why he puts it exactly that way he did. Greetings from germany, where everyone, no matter how poor or homeless he or she might be, never ever gets denied any treatment of their sicknesses, physical or psychological.
About 20 years ago I fell with my bicycle and broke my ankle. Called an ambulance that took me to the hospital where the doctor said it need to be operated. This happened late in the evening. I stayed the night in the hospital. Next day they operated the ankle. Added some metal plates and screws and finally put a cast. All this happened in 12 hours. It cost me 0 euros. 2 months later I was walking. A month later running and skiing. Perfect job done by universal health care. Now living in the USA. Last spring my wife broke her ankle. Much worse than I did 20 years ago. Went to ER. They x-rayed it and told it needs a surgery but did nothing. Just sent us home. We had to start calling orthopedist. Got an appointment (two days later) and visited the doctor. He said that it needs to be operated but first an MRI need to be taken. Waited few days the insurance to show green light. Then waited another 8 days for the insurance to show green light for the surgery. My wife hard to lay down for two weeks in pain at her bed to the surgery that I got in 10 hours. During that 2 weeks we had to visit four time to see a doctor, MRI or something similar. All this costed $40 000, Insurance covered most of it, but we had to pay $2500. During the process we needed to fill dozens of papers and spend hours after hours for the process (going back and forth, waiting on the phone). So, I just want to say this this arrogant last person in this article. The USA is a last place where I ever want to get a treatment.
This article is perhaps the best explanation of why, as almost everyone agrees, the US while one of the richest country in the world has one of the worse, if not the worse, medical system. While other countries have implemented universal medical systems in a variety of ways since 1914, as is the case in Norway which was a very poor country in 1914, the US has been just talking and reviewing options, arguments and world examples while nothing is done. Nothing except eternally enrich the medical industrial system and their stock holders.
I recently had a severe illness that required hospitalization. I was in intensive care for 4 days, 8 days total in hospital. Ambulance to hospital and entire stay in hospital was free. The hospital even paid for my cab home when I was discharged. The level of care was exceptional, they saved my life. I live in Brisbane, Australia.
I’ve had many injuries due to contact sports. I’ve experienced the American, Canadian, and several European systems first hand. I would choose the German system as first, then French, then Canadian. The US system was a distant last. I only had one experience in Germany and France, many many in Canada, and several in USA although I have seen the American system first hand on many occasions.
France, Italy and Spain is generally quite good (even though there are differences between the regions of the same country ).Italy has the highly percentage of old people of Europe and has the highest life expectancy of Europe with Spain. France and Italy have the high numeber of people over 100 of Europe. So In the European Union the France, the Itaian and the Spanish could be consider good universal health systems .
Australian here and just amazed at the sad state of the US health-care system and what you guys are happy to put up with. I was absolutely gobsmacked recently when the Democrats couldn’t even get up a piece of legislation that would allow the government to negotiate with drug companies. Just madness. For anyone interested, I think the Michael Moore movie Sicko did a good job questioning the US system and providing comparisons with other countries, including Cuba of all places. Well worth perusal
The trouble with insurance and the United States says it’s on the honor system which is capitalism. And we have lost honor in our country so insurance companies are not paying for most of the claims. Insurance companies are in the gambling world so they don’t wanna lose money they’re into making money they are not into healthcare, That’s the trouble with our system it’s not a great system right now we need universal healthcare
In Britain, the NHS is absolutely fantastic when it works as intended. I have never been faced with a health problem and had to worry in the slightest about any lasting negative effects of using the healthcare system, financial or otherwise. I can go to a&e, an urgent care centre, a walk in centre, or get an appointment with a gp at any time absolutely free, whatever it is that I need. The problem now is when you have a government run and owned healthcare system, it is totally susceptible to government incompetence, which unfortunately we currently have a lot of. A chronic lack of investment over the last decade or so has left us with crumbling and understaffed hospitals, overworked staff, growing waiting lists, etc. not to mention leaving the EU has left us with a massive workforce gap. This will all take years to rectify. But faced with a choice of this or any form of private healthcare system where I am entitled to better healthcare than a homeless man, and I’ll take a struggling NHS any day.
Your asking the wrong people. All these people being interviewed no doubt have excellent healthcare insurance. None of these people aren’t going to suggest anything that would get rid of their excellent insurance. They should be asking people that has no healthcare. They will honestly tell you what needs to be done. Number one it has to be affordable to everyone, and insurance and pharmaceutical prices have to be regulated, so everybody can have equal insurance and drug prices.
The U.S. health care system makes a lot of money off obesity. If a patient is obese, he/she may need an endocrinologist, cardiologist, nephrologist. rheumatologist, gastroenterologist, pulmonologist, etc. Lots of revenue is generated by these specialists. There is no money to be made from health promotion and chronic illness prevention.
This is a typical article of scientists looking at their own American and other health systems from their own societal frames of reference and then coming to the conclusion that there is no answer to it or that this answer depends on your own expectations. It also shows how, in this case the intellectual elite, look at society from their ivory tower. There are so many sides to the matter that looking is a pointless excursion. Just like this article is a waste of time perusal and commenting on it. ;(
I think there are philosophical issues here about how we figure out what healthcare system we want. As a French citizen, I feel like in America, health is like a lot of things, you have to somehow “earn” it. In France, I don’t think we see this like that. Everyone is entitled to access basic healthcare. “Liberté égalité fraternité” even in our healthcare system. However, I was surprised to see that we somehow were ranked this high. Because we clearly have some issues about the lack of doctors in the countryside and the emergency services being overwhelmed. But, even though, we have these problems, unlike the US, almost no one is ever worried to go see the doctor because of what it would cost them… This idea is quite shocking actually.
I’m not defending the US healthcare system, but this ranking of the WHO is completely crap, they put Colombia on par with Sweden and Switzerland. Don’t get me wrong, Colombia has made a lot of advances in their public health sector but they’re still not on par with these countries health systems in most of the metrics that could be used. They also put Brazil bellow countries such as Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, etc, which doesn’t make any sense since Brazil has probably the best specialized public hospitals in Latin America. And they also put Cuba only one position behind the USA IoI So I would like to know what kind of criteria they used to make this ranking, because it’s clearly not based on quality of the care alone.
There are major cost problems in the US, and I think it starts with the the relationship between insurance companies and health providers. Health providers are always trying to stay up to date with the absolute newest tech so they can ask for more from the insurance companies even if the new tech has a negligible impact on actual healthcare. Insurance companies have the power to question a doctor’s recommendation without even seeing the patient. Meanwhile patients are largely at the mercy of these two entities and neither of them are looking out for our best interest (from a financial perspective). Fortunately, these are problems that could actually be addressed to some degree without changing how the entire country operates, unlike the two other major problems below. Second it has to do with work culture in the USA. For lower skilled/paid employees everyone is at-will and employers don’t value their employees, so workers don’t have the time to ever fully recover without it drastically affecting their work life. When you look at self-employed or highly valued workers, they just don’t accept that they need to take time off to recover, so they probably wouldn’t take time even if it was available. Either way this means pretty much everyone in America is prioritizing their job over their health, but changing this would require absolutely massive changes to how the whole country operates. Third, there’s the food culture in the USA… whenever people talk about expectancy as it relates to healthcare I just roll my eyes because Americans just eat themselves to death and no healthcare changes are going to stop people from this habit.
This article doesn’t provide good answers to any of the pressing questions and yet it ends up obfuscating the whole debate about which countries has the better health care. In the end it sounded like a lot of propaganda and talking to make us believe that other countries don’t have it right either and that the Americans should not learn from other countries health care. Typical American self exceptionalism. At the end of the day as a percentage of GDP the US spends a lot more than other countries yet the US is ranks near the bottom of all OECD countries. Washington Post does suck.
The main problem in the U.S. healthcare in my opinion is greedy pig insurance and pharmaceutical companies. The pharmacutical companies keep drugs ridiculously high and out of reach for most people. The insurance companies want you to pay high unreachable prices but if you need them, they will fight you tooth and nail to NOT have to pay for your medical cost. They also routinely deny coverage for procedures and medicine some life saving. It’s sickining….. Literally
My goodness. These “experts” are so full of themselves. They outdo each other in coming up with buzz phrases and abstract suggestions. The primary answer as to what a health care system should look like is simple: Well trained professionals and well equipped facilities that are universally accessible to all people in that country. Everything else they say is hyperbole and BS.
The biggest mistake in the question is to use the word “best”. Anytime you use the word “best” you set up for an answer that is subjective. What you’re looking four is an objective answer which means you have to define what qualities you’re looking for. And in this case I think any value will have to be corrected for the needs of the country in question. Which country has solved a specific problem in a way that can be adopted by us?
Joke is that the US in its decades old argument over what they should replace their system with completely missed that at this point it no longer matters which first world alternative they picked. None of those alternatives could be worst then what they got right now. Like a hungry person unable to decide which type of bread to eat they risk to die alltho literally all choices could safe them and at worst extend their time to allow another pick. If you are at the bottom then it doesnt matter who you are trading places with on the ladder, you always upgrade with your first choice even not knowing on what step you end up on … even rolling a dice to pick would be a smarter thing to do then doing nothing. But typical for ignorant Americans they rather drown in their problems then taking action … same goes for their incarcaration, gun, worker exploitation, poverty etc problems.
The stats don’t lie the US is last place, the experts point of views are correct no system is perfect. But the sad part is the US political system isn’t able to fix their health system so it is first place. The US should be in first place on their amount of spending, the reason they are in last place is quite simple the majority of citizens cannot afford to use it. The reason Britain, France, Europe, Australia and Canada do better on less money is because every citizen can use their healthcare. I think if the US politicians could come together and fix the problem of why most of their citizens cannot afford healthcare they be in first place. It doesn’t require the ‘Universal or social’ models used in the other countries. What it should involve is fixing the holes that force US citizens not to have healthcare. So legislators should force employers to provide health insurance for all employees. Federal and State governments cover retirees and children insurance, and providing a low cost option for people out of work. So insurers need to have a low cost plan. Anyway very interesting article. I live in Australia and although we have a universal healthcare ‘Medicare’ it isn’t fantastic. It has largely been watered down by again politicians ideologies. Out of care expenses and not covering the full cost of any treatment means it isn’t free. We have a private insurance system that often too expensive for even wealthy people to use. Often people decide not to use their private health insurance because of out of pocket expenses.
You know what, I have the chance to live in France, I don’t think many people acknowledge this but this is truly a chance. I am beneficing from a healthcare system where I (as a student), for the most part, don’t have to pay anything whatsoever, at all, and I am not afraid to say that this is a privilege. As a kid, I always had this dream vision of the US, like “wow, you can achieve everything over there”, there was this ting around the American dream, like “be whoever you want to be, thrive for it”, and then I grew up and figured out that this really wasn’t it. The supposed “best country on earth” is actually really (I mean REALLY) flawed, and so I am grateful to be where I am now. I don’t agree with the last comment by the way, that’s just a way to feel better about the system you are in really.
Is it time for the United States to take the private insurance companies off the backs of patients and guarantee universal health care? I love the doctors and nurses who I have come in contact with. Can I or anyone say the same about the health insurance companies? Is it right for so many Americans to have to go bankrupt to pay off large medical bills or bills for life saving cancer treatment? Should America protects its citizens from bankruptcy when they get necessary health care? Is it time for changes like capping the fees on MRIs at $400 or $500 like Japan does, based on the actual cost of the MRI versus $1400 or $2200 for an MRI in the States?
The last phrase says all about the attitude towards healthcare: …this is the country where you want to get your healthcare. Non native English speaker but I would say ‘receive’ over ‘get’. That combined with the “your’ in ‘ your healthcare’ shows the brain-embedded or even desired customer relationship towards healthcare. If that doesn’t change, well… Was this a deliberate end by makers of the article?
Very typically western centric . After experiencing the accessibility, efficiency and affordability of the public healthcare system in a recent 3 month stay in South Korea, that nation’s absence of consideration as a top tier example in these comparisons is absurd. It was astounding so see what a functioning, accountable social democracy and single payer health care can look like, and a stark reminder of how dysfunctional the myths and blind greed of capitalism have made the U.S..
When googling a certain type of cancer medicine I came across some Dr in the US saying “the smart patients get the smart treatments” which to me as a Swede felt very alien as it implies that there’s a difference between patients. When treatments and medicine is the same for everyone regardless of income, education, demographics or whatever it is, I think that’s a good way to start. To have taxes paying for health care is absolutely vital. Good to see the US finally doing something about this, as it seems(?) The hidden benefits that comes with this types of health care systems seems to be somewhat overlooked as well.
In my opinion, many of these experts demonstrate the true barriers to healthcare reform – attitude. This group accepts the “normality” and “suitability” of the American health care system to our unique cultural and economic circumstances. In their eyes – it’s too hard to change the system without obvious quantifiable benefits even though dozens of countries have already done so quite successfully! This paralysis of decision-making and policy execution is endemic in the United States from the very bottom layers to the very top. It appears that there are so many entities (both public and private) that have a veto over truly beneficial changes that we have become a laughing-stock of the world. Only those individuals or entities that break out of that mold are revolutionizing change – Elon Musk, SpaceX, Tesla, Mark Cuban, Steve Jobs, Apple, Google, Jeff Bezos, Amazon, etc. We need more doers and visionaries than skeptics to bring about health-care reform.
90% of our health lies outside the health care system: clean water, clean air, eatable food, motivation to move/excercise, social opportunities and healthy, no unhealthy, stress. 90%!!! That is the real health care system. I love our Western culture, but as to health, it needs improvement. It’s better at water and air, it fails extremely at food, it fails at stress, it fails at moving. It’s ok at social opportunities.
The United States will provide you with the finest medical care in the world, including the latest techniques and medicines if you are a patient in category 1-A, having liquid assets of five million dollars or more. If you are a patient in category 4-F, aging, destitute and with mental health or substance abuse problems, you’re probably better off in Cuba.
I’m quite happy with the balance we have achieved in Australia. It’s not perfect but it is universal. Like 40% of my fellow citizens, I also have private health care which is cheap and makes up for any deficiencies. Just recently I was treated in a public hospital. Like many, I charged it to my health fund. I got treated no differently than if I were having the service free but the extra funds help the hospital buy new, up to date equipment etc.
I’m sorry, these 5 people voted the US has better healthcare system than Singapore? For real, better than Singapore? I’m sorry, in Singapore, nobody bankrupt due to medical bills. Also noticed, how most of them didn’t list out what attributes a good healthcare. If you’re a health economist, you would have mentioned the 2 most important criterias of good healthcare is affordability and accessibility. And the fact that all of them just beating around the bush to answer the problems instead of pointing at the root problem; capitalism. The US don’t have healthcare system, what they have is healthcare market. Every developed country figured out this, and the the fact that these “experts” don’t admit this but just think “everyone is not perfect”. Lmaooo
I personally think aus prob has the best balance. free univesal healthcare to a point. ie a visit to ER/ED is covered and any lifesaving surgery is covered regardless. But we also have private health which gives you benefits like a private room in hospital, subisdised optical/dental and alternative medicine. having a bub. all covered, no 40 dollars for the nurse to put bub on mums chest after delivery, i mean come on seriously thats pure garbage. But then the american healthcare system is…..profit first last and always isn’t it.
I’m Canadian. Our system is far from perfect (although far more effcient than reported in US Media). No catastrophic health emergency (I am a senior citizen, I have had a few) has ever resulted in financial ruin. In fact, 2 open heart surgeries (the 2nd caused by an unrelated blood infection getting into my bovine aortic valve, resulted in 3 months hospitalisation). Neither cost me a penny out of pocket. (Oops. Full disclosure. I did receive a $25 Ambulance bill.) My employee benefits provided full-pay throughout, which means my bank account grew during my hospital stay (no food or fuel costs for 3 months so my pay only had to cover rent at home). My only experience with the American system is when a friend’s mother in the latter stages of cancer was given Tylenol for pain, because that is all her insurance covered (we paid for her to receive opiates). Now, I understand that is anectdotal, and so I don’t judge the entire system on that event, but it certainly left a bad taste in my mouth, and as a result, I hope that I never get sick in the US. I can’t say that about any other Western nation. It means nothing to have the greatest health services on the planet, if they are reserved for those who can afford them. That is Capitalism on acid.
The reason the US keeps increasing spending on healthcare, without the equivalent increase in life expectancy is because insurance companies must make more and more profit. Cutting care and increasing prices is one of the ways they do this. It’s CEO class 101. Their customers are really the board of directors/major share holders. Insurance companies are better off financially by not paying for as much as possible. They want healthy people to pay them and sick people to pay for their own care, or die before they have to pay out the limit of your policy. IMO
The question is not which country has the best healthcare, it is what is the best healthcare SYSTEM. Without a doubt it is some version of universal social insurance, road-tested and refined since Bismarck first introduced it in 1884 and underpinning the performance of all the best performing countries. Each country differs in detail, but the basic principles are held in common.
In Brazil we had a writer that lived in Virginia and criticized one hard way public health system of Brazil, following thieir far right liberalism ideologies, but when he fell down by heart disease, he can’t pay for threatment in US and came to Brazil to be threaded by Brazilian health system with no fee.
In the US we’re just blind. Our cost of healthcare and medicine is the highest in the World. The main issue is that healthcare here is a business and not a right. I got sick (have good healthcare which cost me over 600/month) with UC and is costing my insurance company thousands of dollars and my doctors make me feel like they don’t really care. I talked to a good friend with the same condition in Spain and it cost him $0 zero (universal healthcare) and they figured out a great course of action that fixed his UC (hasn’t had any flares in 10 years.) To be fair, Spain spends about 10% of their GDP in healthcare while we spend a fraction of that… Why can we figure this out?
I just watched a lot of Phd people finding excuses to not create their own model as good as the French one or Swiss one … the truth is that most of US taxpayers money goes to the war machine trillions and trillions of dollars each year over 6 decades… sometimes financing the army and war machine of other countries…. in a inhuman/colonial/imperialist way.
the best health care system is a system where anyone who needs to can walk into a doctors office of the ER and be seen or be treated without any worry about how much it costs and the patient is taken care of/treated and is able to make a recovery and go home.. even if they are homeless or a mulit millionair….
I think another thing worth mentioning is that although taxes are somewhat similar, the US has an extremely high rate of military expenditure. Based on 2020 data, the US spent $778 billion on defense costs. This is greater than the next 10 countries with the highest expenditures COMBINED. That is, the US spends more on defense than all of China, India, Russia, the UK, Saudi Arabia, Germany, France, Japan, South Korea, Italy, and Australia COMBINED. The proportional distribution of funding is different, with less %GPD for healthcare expenditures. This translates to the inability to subsidize basic health services in addition to other services as well. The US healthcare system, like one of the experts said, reflects its social values. Any degree, no matter how small, of socialized medicine, has also become politicized to a point of paralysis. Healthcare change will not occur until this gridlock loosens, which is unlikely for the foreseeable future given how hostile the US political landscape has become (particularly in recent years).
To simplify it: It is the foundation of the society in the USA that business and making money are good. The underlying assumption is that private companies are always better than any kind of government regulated organizations. Making money is a good think and will incentivize people to make an effort. he helathcare system of the USA works accordinngly. It sets priorty of share holder value for companies in healthcare (pharma, insurance providers, hospitals, universities/colleges offering education for doctors and nurses, companies providing funding for students so that they can pay for their eduction). All other things (patients, employees, the government) comes second. This has increased the inequality of the USA be design. If you want to have universial helathcare than you have to break this system. The ones profiting from the current system are against such a change. Unfortunately these are the ones dominating the poliitcal parties and the media in the USA. They are actively avoiding to speak the simple truth. In a way, the USA reminds me more and more of the Feriengi in Star Trek’s deep space nine.
this is a pretty shallow segment that uses a lot of cliches and overused talking points. It appears scripted, and the ‘experts’ are just reciting a predetermined narrative – if you might notice that in switching from one speaker to the next, they are practically (and sometimes literally) completing each others sentences.
The first factor should be: Accessibility. Most of Europe views healthcare as a human right, like higher education. There is little point to have a ‘great’ healthcare system that few people can afford. In most of Europe (Even in the poorest countries), there is universal healthcare, usually based on your income (With homeless/people below poverty getting it for free) and one can just walk into a hospital. Yes, there are waiting lists for some things and no, it’s not always the most advanced state of the art ‘2000 USD a pill’ treatment. But it’s there, you never have to worry about not being able to access healthcare.
I am an Australian who lived worked in the US in the 80s. My employer, a university covered my health insurance and fortunately I had no health problems. In Australia we have a universal health system with a mix of private and public providers. I never saw the need for taking out private insurance and am satisfied with the health services I have received. I am still in contact with a friend from Syracuse who is now a university department head in Utah. She has concerns about health care in the US, especially as she has a now adult son who has a disability. Too many Americans seem to think that ‘socialised medicine’ is the first step on the way to the gulag. Just today I saw a news item that Republicans in congress have denied legislation that would have capped what diabetics pay for insulin. We also have a pharmaceutical benefits scheme which subsidises medicines and caps what drug companies can charge. I am now retired but was in medical research, including seven years in a pharmacy research and I understand the costs involved in developing new drugs so am not anti ‘big pharma’, but in the absence of regulation they will charge what they can get away with. In a civilised society, health care is a right and not a privilege. None of us gets to choose our parents wisely, is immune from losing in the genetics lottery, or from falling on hard times.
See, in the United States a colonoscopy costs 3000 dollars. In Germany it costs 300 dollars. If the United States copied the German health care system prices would come down. That’s true. Now this is the draw back. A large reason why health care costs are so high in the US is because of malpractice. If the doctor makes a mistake his malpractice insurance might have to pay serious amounts of cash. The amount is decided in a court room. That does not happen in in Europe. They do not pay amounts of money for malpractice. It’s a set amount and is no where near what one receives in the US.
The problem with the American Healthcare System is this whole interview. “What are the wealthy willing to do for the poor/sick”. A very privileged perspective. Healthcare is not a favour, or a ‘handout’. It is a basic human right. And until the USA begins to see it that way, it will always be behind.
Funny how you see countries that don’t bankrupt their citizens for seeking healthcare, people have better health. It’s shameful that we don’t even living longer, we are definitely sicker, and we are going broke trying to seek help. People who get the most advance care don’t have to worry about money in America. Ordinary Americans get mediocre care at best, care that people from other countries get for free, or at least covered by universal healthcare. And don’t even get me started on mental health.
Another problem in many countries around the world is that the wealthy pay (both in relative and sometimes even in absolute terms) less tax than the majority of the people. They are not pulling their weight in the society they live in. And it’s designed that way by law. Why? Because no country is a real democracy, where the will of the people counts. Instead, the law is made by people who have their hands in the pockets of a few which are super-wealthy and policy-makers won’t bite the hand that feeds them. That doesn’t only apply to healthcare.
So, how is it that US medical costs are (at least) twice those of other countries, and a large proportion of the less affluent cannot afford any treatment? Pure selfishness on the part of health insurers and drug companies, and the mistaken belief the it’s everyone for himself/herself. Basic healthcare should be provided to all by the government – it’s right and fair to do so.
As a french, I’d like to say that everytime i’ve been to the doctor I didn’t pay anything, a while back I had to go to the doctor to check if everything was fine or not, after that my doctor gave me a prescription to do an x-ray scanner to see if my back had any problem cause it’s been 7 years that I had pain in my middle to lower back, after that I went back to my doctor with the results and she gave me another prescription to got to the physical therapist to get my back straight after 6 months of exercising, my back was fine and I could run normally without taking a break every 5sec to bare the pain on my back
I think a hybrid system would work best in the US. To establish baseline insurance so that people have true choice: 1. Expand Medicare to cover everyone with the 20/80 split with hospital care and outpatient care with a cap of $15,000 per person/$25,000 per family unit. 2. Medicare negotiates all doctor/hospital/drug prices. Doctors can either accept the rate, or if they want to charge more, they may, but must advertise the price difference and show the customer what they will be paying prior to service. 3. People pay the rate when they get medical service. Health insurance will act here, if a person chooses to have it. 4. All billing must be presented prior to treatment, and all billing must be consolidated by the site of care. 5. Establish a nationwide medical database so any healthcare agent in the US can access a patient’s medical history without needing to transfer documents. This will have insurance information. To establish strong, and competitive insurance agencies: 1. Insurance covers what Medicare does not and acts supplemental. 2. Anyone who wants insurance is entitled to it. It will cost 7% of income, regardless of income or the premium, whichever is cheaper. 3. All insurance is purchased through an exchange and all policies are available to everyone. Employers must cover 50% of cost but may cover more, and may purchase extra supplements for their employees. 4. Insurance must spend 88% of premiums on healthcare and administration costs cannot exceed 2%. 5. Establish max out of pocket costs of $1000 per person, $2000 per family unit.
3:20 : Were the benefits of the treatment greater than the costs of the treatment? We should ask: For who? For the patient, getting healthier is always worth it unless they cannot afford it. For the insurance companies, it is usually only worth it as long as it is keeping a patient who pays more and spends less under insurance. Once it reverses, it is not financially worth it anymore!
American here in Sweden. Over age 55 with an athletic physical history and generally fairly healthy. Had a heart related anomaly 2 years ago, went for a bp test, found a collapsed artery descending. Was sent up to ICU day of, ultrasound/ekg tests etc. Non invasive stent procedure the next day plus four days overnight in hospital cost me the equivalent of $75 US. So there it is. But the doctors are correct in HC of nations that often reflect our values. Make of that what you will.
I think Americans are just a different breed of people – independent, risk-taking, a healthy dose of joie de vivre, carelessness, and so on. All of these may contribute to the stat shown where American healthcare is getting more expensive with lower survival rates after 40. Personally, I like the people in this country for these very attributes so I don’t find this stat troublesome. It’s just a choice we make as free people. But another point I wish they would have addressed as all these experts seemed to be economists. Isn’t healthcare spending just another choice that individuals make based on how prosperous they are overall? If your basic needs (such as food and shelter) are being met, then spending more on healthcare seems to be a luxury that we can afford more of, rather than a mandate that is driving us into economic ruin.
The life expectancy part is probably partly due to differences in lifestyle. Europeans take more time off from work for leisure activities, may have more social programs available to them and may have better diets than Americans. These help reduce cortisol and inflammation in the body. Face it, Americans are fat and stressed out. In this country “leisure” is equated with “lazy.”
What, whaaat? Whaaaaat? In my country, Germany, it ist absolutely evident, that the society (i.e. the taxpayer) is responsible to provide adequate efficient healthcare to everyone. Otherwise we would allow private, profit oriented companies to make money of our hardships, as it was usual in medieval times.
I’m British, living in Spain, I’ve been here for a while but haven’t had any health problems until recently. And the Spanish healthcare system is SO much better in the UK, the whole NHS system until they are absolutely certain that you have something very wrong seems designed to make you stop bothering them. The Spanish healthcare system was far more accessible, more based around diagnosis rather than telling you p*ss off. Also the medication is so well subsidised, one month of blood pressure medication (enalapril) cost me EIGHTEEN CENTS!
Whoah, whoah, our country ranks second as you can see in that ranking (Italy), and you have the gut of saying that starting from France and moving all the way North in Europe you’ll get all the best health-care systems? What a joke. And that says a lot about the amount of respect you have for us, no surprise there. Anyway, that is one the reasons why you will always have the horrible disfunctional health-care you have, because intellectual dishonesty is part of the problem.
As an Egyptian person and I can remember when I was 18 and my dad passed away because he couldn’t get a well treatment to save money for us to pay off private lessons and private lessons here in my country are common because we couldn’t get good education we always take private lessons with the teachers and we pay a lot of money for that ..so I’ve been buckling down on improving myself and now I’m a fresh graduate and I got a college degree in engineering and I’ve worked on my English so hard so now I can say I’m fluent much better than the speakers in this article as a result I’m very proud of myself and I’ll do my best to get a high band in my IELTS to go to one of these lovey countries which appreciate human beings
The ‘learnings’? 🤦🏻♂️ For the love of Pete, it’s ‘lessons’ that we learn or take. I can never trust someone spouting the latest nonsense words in replacement for the existing and completely accurate words, it speaks of a lazy mind, far too easily swayed by fads. Insofar as health systems, well, for starters, how about one that allows equal access to medical care, no matter a persons wealth? Quality will then follow as the rich and privileged will insist they, and therefore all, receive top quality Heath care. Problem solved.
Core Principles? Our values as a Society? 😂 Nonsense! Too much the CEOs and the Insurance double talk mumbo jumbo! THIS over Forty years Nurse says: National Health Care, Baby! We can take the BEST of the Canadian, UK, German, French systems, study their successes AND their failures, and make the BEST system for the United States. Get those CORPORATE CLOWNS OUT OF THE EQUATION, COMPLETELY!
How about instead of the money people pay into insurance, we pay the same amount into a hands off trust run by the government, they can add a nice interest on it like 2%, and in 10 years every bodies healthcare can be afforded from the trust. Plus the government owning all drug patents and giving a kickback to the company or people that invented it, they still get paid for their hard work but just don’t own it and charge whatever they want. Patents on drugs gone and an interest accumulating hands off trust for the cost.
The USA has overpriced healthcare My dads friend is from Andorra where they have a privatised healthcare system so it all costs money he had an accident with a grinder and chopped his hand so badly the bone was cut and it was hanging on by skin he passed out from lack of blood his neighbour found him and called an ambulance the ambulance rushed him to hospital and he had multiple operations they reattached his hand gave him blood and he fully recovered It cost him €25 I’m from the Uk here we pay a tax to the NHS (national health service) so all healthcare here is free
As an australian i had a quadruple by-pass when i was 48yrs old cost to me nothing am now 71yrs old just had my bladder removed and had a radical prosectomy because i had bladder cancer which means i now have to wear a bag for the collection of urine. prior to the operation i spent six months on chemo now for the next twelve months i have to have fortnightly infusions of immunology the cost to me nothing.i need a monthly supply of products for the maintenance of my stoma which costs around $500.00 per month for supply’s again the cost to me nothing so i know what health system i would rather be under and it is definitely not the one from the USA.
Haven’t had a family doctor for years in Canada. A moderate issue requires a 4 hour wait at the emergency room. For minor issues, have to rely on Telus (a monopolized conglomerate) for unreliable telemedicine. Canada’s healthcare stinks unless you have a life threatening issue.. Then they’ll actually do something
The discussion throughout the entire article seems utterly pointless! As an American, it’s disheartening but not surprising to witness our healthcare system lagging behind many of our other highly successful national endeavors. It feels like we’re stuck in an endless debate loop, one that distracts from the urgent need to address a system that nearly everyone acknowledges is not functioning properly.
The solution to America’s deeply dysfunctional and inefficient healthcare system is, DO NOT get sick! Preserve your health by eating the right foods and proper exercise. Private healthcare companies are as unethical as a for-profit prison system. America does a lot of great work with innovation in business, but lags far behind in healthcare.
I worked as a schedule for a while when I was going to college the amount of stupid bullshit I had to sort through to get patients seen was insane. Sometimes it was easy and everything worked out sometimes it was just a complete clusterfuck. I wonder how much money is spent just unraveling the bullshit.
Interesting post. Reminds me of how the Finnish changed their education system to become the best in the world. A team went around the world looking at education systems and they put together the best of all of them to create something based on evidence and outcomes. It worked. I do think you can apply this to a healthcare system in any country. But it starts with the values/ideology/ambitions of a country. And FYI – in public health school we learned there are three basic systems: a. welfare model (state owned and supported through taxation eg. Nordic countries), b. Bismarkian (a compulsory insurance model based on income eg, Germany and Netherlands) or c. liberal and market driven model eg. United Sates. So clearly, highly driven by the countries political and social ideologies.
This whole article in a nutshell : – Who has the world’s best healthcare system? well, you see, theres this tournament… but theres no clear winner…. AND THEN theres this graph… but that doesnt mean that theyre related in any way… – How do you think the US healthcare system fare against other countries? You see… thats not the correct question. You should ask what would the best system for the US look like – Uh huh, and what would that look like? you see, it depends… people have different… values – ??? ITS AN ANSWER THAT WE ALL HAVE WITHIN US jeez, I dont know if its the editing or something, but they didnt really answer any questions, just throwing jargons and disclaimer. If these people are our country’s ‘experts’, no wonder the healthcare system haven’t improved up to expectations. Denying accountability is more important than stating your opinion/observation result, I guess?
Why should a health care system prevent a person from financial ruin? If a healthcare system is focused on prevention and early intervention shouldn’t that prevent expensive treatments for chronic diseases such as dialysis or diabetes? The goal therefore of a health system should be to prevent chronic disease.
“We need a healthcare system that reflects our values as a country.” “What are the rich willing to do for the poor, the healthy for the sick?” Ask any chronically ill person in the United States whether our healthcare system aligns with our country’s value system and you’ll find, yes, it does, and that is an indictment in itself of American values towards the sick.
I don’t understand why we can’t have universal “basic” healthcare – just life saving care for everyone, regardless of income, & then have privatized healthcare for non-essential services (plastic surgery, sex changes, etc.). This would ensure everyone is taken care of for their essential needs, but the non-essential services are still there, but taxpayers aren’t funding them. Am I over-simplifying this? What am I missing?
So all of them agree, that there are great healthcare systems (e.g. central and northern europe) and then spend the rest of the time to explain why the us is special and you cannot use any of those systems… If medicine in the us (just as an example ozempic or insulin) costs five to ten times the amount as it does in europe, then the system needs to change. But if you ask mr. chandra if a treatment is too expensive you should just let the patient die.