Question

compare healthcare cost in US with any other country and advantages and disadvantages of the healthcare systems

Answer 1

The United States Spends More on Healthcare per Person than Other Wealthy Countries

The amount of resources a country allocates for healthcare varies as each country has its own political, economic, and social attributes that help determine how much it will spend. Generally, wealthier countries — such as the United States — will spend more on healthcare than countries that are less affluent. As such, it helps to compare healthcare spending in the U.S. to spending in other comparatively wealthy countries — those with GDP and per capita GDP above the median.

In 2018, the U.S. spent about $10,600 per person on healthcare — the highest healthcare costs per capita across the OECD. For comparison, Switzerland was the second highest-spending country with about $7,300 in healthcare costs per capita, while the average for wealthy OECD countries, excluding the United States, was only $5,300 per person. Such comparisons indicate that the U.S. spends a disproportionate amount on healthcare.

There are many possible factors for why healthcare prices in the U.S. are higher than other countries, ranging from the consolidation of hospitals — leading to a lack of competition — to the inefficiencies and administrative waste that derive from the complexity of the U.S. healthcare system. In fact, the U.S. spends over $800 per person on administrative costs — nearly five times more than the average of other wealthy countries and significantly more than we spend on preventive or long-term healthcare.

Does this Higher Spending Lead to Better Outcomes?

Higher healthcare spending can be beneficial if it results in better health outcomes. However, despite higher healthcare spending, America’s health outcomes are not any better than those in other developed countries. The U.S. actually performs worse in some common health metrics like life expectancy, infant mortality, and unmanaged diabetes.

As, shown in the above research, there are hardly any advantages of spending more because results are not better than other nations. They are just equal.