US STILL Spends Nearly Twice As Much On Healthcare As Some Other Wealthy Countries,

the study authors found that “Americans used health care at similar rates as their peers,” but healthcare spending accounted for almost 18% of US GDP compared to 10-12% in the other countries studied – Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK. The researchers also found that the US “had the highest pharmaceutical spending per capita among its peers at $1,443...compared with an average of $749 for all 11 countries.” “The Upshot” blog reports the researchers found that the US healthcare system was similar to those in the other countries studied in many ways, but were “quite different” in two areas. The investigators concluded that the US pays “higher prices for medical services, including hospitalization, doctors’ visits and prescription drugs,” and the US also has higher “administrative costs.” The Los Angeles Times (3/13, Kaplan) reports the researchers used “newly available data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Commonwealth Fund” to compare the US to 10 other countries with high health spending and “populations with similar demographic characteristics that have similar burdens of illness.” https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/13/us-health-care-spending-is-twice-the-rate-of-other-high-income-nations.html