health news

Ranking of health care system ,The best way to overhaul a clearly broken health care system, it’s perhaps helpful to put American medicine in a global perspective as per supporters and opponents of the Affordable Care Act .

It’s remarkable how low America places in health care efficiency: among the 48 countries included in the Bloomberg study, the U.S. ranks 46th, outpacing just Serbia and Brazil. Once that sinks in, try this one on for size: the U.S. ranks worse than China, Algeria, and Iran.

In other words, the world’s richest country spends more of its money on health care while getting less than almost every other nation in return.

Important note that this data doesn’t necessarily reflect the best health care in the world; it is simply a measure of overall quality as a function of cost. Bloomberg explains its methodology as such:

Included were countries with populations of at least five million, GDP per capita of at least $5,000 and life expectancy of at least 70 years.
Ranking third on Bloomberg’s list, the Japanese system involves universal health care with mandatory participation funded by payroll taxes paid by both employer and employee, or income-based premiums by the self-employed. Long-term care insurance is also required for those older than 40. As Dr. John W. Traphagan notes in The Diplomat, Japan controls costs by setting flat rates for everything from medications to procedures, thus eliminating competition among insurance providers. While most of the country’s hospitals are privately owned and operated, the government implements smart regulations to ensure that the system remains universal and egalitarian.

So what can the U.S. learn from the many countries that get more bang for their health care . Unsurprisingly, there is no one formula for success when it comes to efficient medical care. The systems that rank highly on Bloomberg’s list are as diverse as the nations to which they belong. The unifying factor seems to be tight government control over a universal system, which may take many shapes and forms — a fact evident in the top-three most efficient health care systems in the world: Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan.

the government provides a safety net to cover expenses for which these personal savings are inadequate. Private health care still plays a role in Singapore’s system, but takes a backseat to public offerings, which boast the majority of doctors, nurses, and procedures performed.

Despite being considered by some as having the freest economy in the world, Hong Kong’s universal health care system involves heavy government participation; its own health secretary calls public medicine the “cornerstone” of the system. Public hospitals account for 90 percent of in-patient procedures, while the numerous private options are mostly used by the wealthy.

All this government care isn’t taking much of a bite out of the state’s bustling economy: According to Bloomberg, Hong Kong spends just 3.8 percent of GDP on health care per ca pita, tied for the third-lowest among nations surveyed and good for the most efficient health care system in the world.