Despite spending more on healthcare than any other nation, the U.S. is the lowest or second-lowest-ranking country when it comes to measures such as access, equity and outcomes, according to a new Commonwealth Fund analysis.
And the U.S. ranked last overall among 10 countries when factoring in all of those metrics. The top-performing countries this year are Australia, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
The poor showing by the U.S. stands in stark contrast to how much it spends on healthcare. In 1980, U.S. expenditures were at the high end of the distribution among the 10 nations studied, but comparable to outlays in Sweden and Germany – 8.2% of GDP. Since then, however, the U.S. has far outpaced other nations, spending more than 16% of its GDP on healthcare in 2022. And that figure is predicted to exceed 20% by 2035.
(author introduction)