Health Care Spending in the United States and Other High-Income Countries

IMPORTANCE: Health care spending in the United States is a major concern and is higher than in other high-income countries, but there is little evidence that efforts to reform US health care delivery have had a meaningful influence on controlling health care spending and costs. OBJECTIVE: To compare...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association 2018-03, Vol.319 (10), p.1024-1039
Main Authors: Papanicolas, Irene, Woskie, Liana R, Jha, Ashish K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Australia
Canada
Developed Countries
Device driver programs
Europe
Gross Domestic Product
Health care
Health care delivery
Health care expenditures
Health Expenditures
Health Services - statistics & numerical data
Health services utilization
Health Status
Humans
Income
Insurance Coverage - statistics & numerical data
Insurance, Health - statistics & numerical data
Life Expectancy
Medical ethics
Medical practices
Medical procedures
Physicians - supply & distribution
United States
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Summary:IMPORTANCE: Health care spending in the United States is a major concern and is higher than in other high-income countries, but there is little evidence that efforts to reform US health care delivery have had a meaningful influence on controlling health care spending and costs. OBJECTIVE: To compare potential drivers of spending, such as structural capacity and utilization, in the United States with those of 10 of the highest-income countries (United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia, Japan, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Denmark) to gain insight into what the United States can learn from these nations. EVIDENCE: Analysis of data primarily from 2013-2016 from key international organizations including the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), comparing underlying differences in structural features, types of health care and social spending, and performance between the United States and 10 high-income countries. When data were not available for a given country or more accurate country-level estimates were available from sources other than the OECD, country-specific data sources were used. FINDINGS: In 2016, the US spent 17.8% of its gross domestic product on health care, and spending in the other countries ranged from 9.6% (Australia) to 12.4% (Switzerland). The proportion of the population with health insurance was 90% in the US, lower than the other countries (range, 99%-100%), and the US had the highest proportion of private health insurance (55.3%). For some determinants of health such as smoking, the US ranked second lowest of the countries (11.4% of the US population ≥15 years smokes daily; mean of all 11 countries, 16.6%), but the US had the highest percentage of adults who were overweight or obese at 70.1% (range for other countries, 23.8%-63.4%; mean of all 11 countries, 55.6%). Life expectancy in the US was the lowest of the 11 countries at 78.8 years (range for other countries, 80.7-83.9 years; mean of all 11 countries, 81.7 years), and infant mortality was the highest (5.8 deaths per 1000 live births in the US; 3.6 per 1000 for all 11 countries). The US did not differ substantially from the other countries in physician workforce (2.6 physicians per 1000; 43% primary care physicians), or nursing workforce (11.1 nurses per 1000). The US had comparable numbers of hospital beds (2.8 per 1000) but higher utilization of magnetic resonance imaging (118 per 1000) and computed tomography (245 per 1000) vs other
ISSN:0098-7484
1538-3598
DOI:10.1001/jama.2018.1150