Spend More, Get Less - The American Way

Excerpts from the Washington Post with bolding added to call attention to key points

For Americans, Getting Sick Has Its Price
Survey Says U.S. Patients Pay More, Get Less Than Those in Other Western Nations

By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 4, 2005

Americans pay more when they get sick than people in other Western nations and get more confused, error-prone treatment, according to the largest survey to compare U.S. health care with other nations.

The survey of nearly 7,000 sick adults in the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Britain and Germany found Americans were the most likely to pay at least $1,000 in out-of-pocket expenses. More than half went without needed care because of cost and more than one-third endured mistakes and disorganized care when they did get treated.

Although patients in every nation sometimes run into obstacles to getting care and deficiencies when they do get treated, the United States stood out for having the highest error rates, most disorganized care and highest costs, the survey found.

"What's striking is that we are clearly a world leader in how much we spend on health care," said Cathy Schoen, senior vice president for the Commonwealth Fund, a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit foundation that commissioned the survey. "We should be expecting to be the best. Clearly, we should be doing better."

Other experts agreed, saying the results offer the most recent evidence that the quality of care in the United States is seriously eroding even as health care costs skyrocket.

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Americans were also much more likely to report forgoing needed treatment because of cost, with about half saying they had decided not to fill a prescription, to see a doctor when they were sick or opted against getting recommended follow-up tests. About 38 percent of patients in New Zealand reported going without care; the numbers were 34 percent in Australia, 28 percent in Germany, 26 percent in Canada and 13 percent in Britain.

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Americans also reported the greatest number of medical errors. Thirty-four percent reported getting the wrong medication or dose, incorrect test results, a mistake in their treatment or care, or being notified late about abnormal test results. Only 30 percent of Canadian patients, 27 percent of Australian patients, 25 percent of New Zealanders, 23 percent of Germans and 22 percent of Britons reported errors.

© 2005 The Washington Post Company
The full article is available here. Additionally, the text of the report the article draws upon is available from the journal Health Affairs.

It's really hard to read something like this and now wonder how on earth people can believe something like "America's the greatest country in the history of the planet." This report isn't even talking about how the poor are so often shut out of the health care system but instead about how the average, middle class American pays more and gets less for what they spend. And this is something to be proud about?

Unfortunately though, it seems that the system will continue to crumble a long time before the fat and lazy drop their greaseburgers and remotes from their chubby little fingers and put together some sort of communication for the wonderful legislators they continue to return to office and demand that something be done to give us our money's worth. Will it take their own children dying of simple diseases because they are no longer able to pay for the doctor's visit, diagnostic tests, or simple prescription?

Clearly the average, middle class American, while willing to complain about health care still has it too good. In other words, they need so little health care and while annoyed at the cost, they are able to fit it in with their other credit card payments. But the time will soon come when very few will have employer subsidized healthcare because they will either not be willing to pay the costs that are currently covered by their employers or they will simply be working in jobs that don't offer such luxuries. (Those jobs will have gone overseas by then.)

Will it really take the deaths of spouses and children before people wake up and get angry about what they have allowed to happen? Or will they still just be content to believe that it is someone else's fault? Blame it on unions, management, lawyers, insurance companies, drug manufacturers -- it really doesn't matter because the truth is Americans allowed it to happen.

Maybe the best thing that could happen to this generation is to make everyone pay the cost of his own way through the world. Maybe then they would understand how much is hidden. Maybe if they knew how much their employer was subsidizing the cost of their healthcare they would demand change. But we are a nation obsessed with the concept, the deception, of getting something for nothing. We want our healthcare, but only as long as we don't have to know that we are paying for it.

And so, we get exactly what we pay for...again and again. And is that what makes this such a great country?