Healthcare Fail: U.S. system considered the worst though it costs the most

By Kenneth Schortgen Jr

Even without the implementation of Obamacare, the American healthcare system has been on the decline for several years.  And as with most government managed systems, which includes both education and the Veterans Administration, the cost of America’s healthcare is the highest costing in the developed world, while being the worst for treatment and care.

The United States health care system is the most expensive in the world, but this report and prior editions consistently show the U.S. underperforms relative to other countries on most dimensions of performance. Among the 11 nations studied in this report—Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States—the U.S. ranks last, as it did in the 2010, 2007, 2006, and 2004 editions of Mirror, Mirror. Most troubling, the U.S. fails to achieve better health outcomes than the other countries, and as shown in the earlier editions, the U.S. is last or near last on dimensions of access, efficiency, and equity. In this edition of Mirror, Mirror, the United Kingdom ranks first, followed closely by Switzerland. – The Commonwealth Fund

Over the past 20 years, government involvement in nearly every major part of our lives has resulted in a massive increase in cost while at the same time, resulting in a massive decline in service.  In 1990, the United States was tied for second throughout the world for population literacy, but in 2014, that ranking has fallen to a level where more 14% of the population is completely illiterate, and 19% of all high school graduates fail to read above a 5th grade level.  Yet in that same 24 year span, taxpayer and student costs for education have increased from 5.3% of GDP ($151 billion) to 6.1% of GDP ($913 billion) respectively.

While technology and access to better medical treatments have improved the longevity of Americans over the past 20-50 years, skyrocketing costs, coupled with the transition from direct billing to medical insurance co-ops and government managed healthcare such as Medicare and Medicaid, have led to skyrocketing costs and a decline in actual care as bureaucrats and bean counters now determine who receives what treatments over the opinions of physicians.  And if anyone wants to see how healthcare in America really works today, all one has to do is ask a returning veteran who has spent anytime in a VA hospital.

Kenneth Schortgen Jr is a writer for Secretsofthefed.com, Examiner.com, and hosts the popular web blog, The Daily Economist. Ken can also be heard Friday evenings giving an weekly economic report on the Angel Clark radio show.

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