Blitz Bureau
WASHINGTON: The United States health system ranked dead last in an international comparison of 10 peer nations, according to a new report by the Commonwealth Fund.
In spite of Americans paying nearly double that of other countries, the system performed poorly on health equity, access to care and outcomes.
“I see the human toll of these shortcomings on a daily basis,” said Dr Joseph Betancourt, the president of the Commonwealth Fund, a foundation with a focus on healthcare research and policy, according to The Guardian.
“I see patients who cannot afford their medications … I see older patients arrive sicker than they should because they spent the majority of their lives uninsured,” said Betancourt. However, even as high healthcare prices bite into workers’ paychecks, the economy and inflation dominate voters’ concerns. Neither Kamala Harris nor Donald Trump has proposed major healthcare reforms.
The Democratic presidential nominee has largely reframed healthcare as an economic issue, promising medical debt relief while highlighting the Biden administration’s successes, such as Medicare drug price negotiations.
The Republican presidential nominee said he has “concepts of a plan” to improve healthcare, but has made no proposals. The conservative policy agenda Project 2025 has largely proposed gutting scientific and public health infrastructure.
When asked about healthcare issues, voters overwhelmingly ranked cost at the top. The cost of drugs, doctors and insurance are the top issue for Democrats (42%) and Republicans (45%), according to Kaiser Family Foundation health system polling. Americans spend $4.5tn per year on healthcare, or more than $13,000 per person per year on healthcare, according to federal government data.
