Came across a recent report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Here are some interesting snippets (for reference, here is a list of the member countries of the OECD).
Total health spending accounted for 16.0% [$2.2 trillion] of GDP [est. $13.84 - 14.11 trillion] in the United States in 2007, by far the highest share in the OECD.
The United States also ranks far ahead of other OECD countries in terms of total health spending per capita, with spending of 7,290 USD (adjusted for purchasing power parity), almost two-and-a-half times greater than the OECD average of 2,964 USD in 2007.
The public share of health expenditure in the United States (45%) is much lower than in any other OECD country (except Mexico, also 45%), but nevertheless public expenditure on health is higher than in most other OECD countries, because overall spending per capita is so much greater. For this amount of expenditure in the United States, government provides insurance coverage only for the elderly and disabled (through Medicare, which primarily insures persons aged 65 and over and people with disabilities) and some of the poor (through Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, SCHIP), whereas in most other OECD countries this is enough for government to provide universal primary health insurance.
Private insurance accounts for 35% of total health spending in the United States, by far the largest share among OECD countries.
Despite the relatively high level of health expenditure in the United States, there are fewer physicians per capita than in most other OECD countries. In 2007, the United States had 2.4 practising physicians per 1,000 population, below the OECD average of 3.1.
The number of acute care hospital beds in the United States in 2007 was 2.7 per 1 000 population, lower than the OECD average of 3.8 beds…This decline has coincided with a reduction in average length of stays in hospitals and an increase in day surgeries.
Most OECD countries have enjoyed large gains in life expectancy over the past decades. In the United States, life expectancy at birth increased by 8.2 years between 1960 and 2006, which is less than the increase of almost 15 years in Japan, or 9.4 years in Canada. In 2006, life expectancy in the United States stood at 78.1 years, almost one year below the OECD average of 79.0 years. Japan, Switzerland and Australia were the three countries with the highest life expectancy.
Infant mortality rates in the United States have fallen greatly over the past few decades, but not as much as in most other OECD countries. It stood at 6.7 deaths per 1 000 live births in 2006, above the OECD average of 4.9.
Tagged: health care, oecd, research, usa