Posted on 01/09/2008 8:07:15 AM PST by j_hig
WASHINGTON (AFP) - France is tops, and the United States dead last, in providing timely and effective healthcare to its citizens, according to a survey Tuesday of preventable deaths in 19 industrialized countries.
The study by the Commonwealth Fund and published in the January/February issue of the journal Health Affairs measured developed countries' effectiveness at providing timely and effective healthcare.
The study, entitled "Measuring the Health of Nations: Updating an Earlier Analysis," was written by researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. It looked at death rates in subjects younger than 75 that could have been prevented by timely and effective medical care.
The researchers found that while most countries surveyed saw preventable deaths decline by an average of 16 percent, the United States saw only a four percent dip.
The non-profit Commonwealth Fund, which financed the study, expressed alarm at the findings.
"It is startling to see the US falling even farther behind on this crucial indicator of health system performance," said Commonwealth Fund Senior Vice President Cathy Schoen, who noted that "other countries are reducing these preventable deaths more rapidly, yet spending far less."
The 19 countries, in order of best to worst, were: France, Japan, Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Some countries showed dramatic improvement in the periods studied -- 1997 and 1998 and again between 2002 and 2003 -- outpacing the United States, which showed only slight improvement.
White the United States ranked 15th of 19 between 1997-98, by 2002-03 it had fallen to last place.
"It is notable that all countries have improved substantially except the US," said Ellen Nolte, lead author of the study.
Had the United States performed as well as any of the top three industrialized countries, there would have been 101,000 fewer deaths per year, the researchers said.
Shouldn’t france be first in the number of elderly who die because everyone was on vacation?
They say that the United States “provides” so I am assuming that private practice is excluded from this Socialist study.
Ex-MTV host and Canadian Tom Green came to the US to have his cancer diagnosed and treated in the time he would’ve had to wait to even been seen in Canada.
Yes they were really timely and effective to those 11000 old people that broiled during the summer a couple years ago. Real timely.
Air Conditioning is only for young whipper snappers.
This is such bovine excrement. While traveling in France one of my companions fell from a boat to the concrete surface of a lock and was fairly badly injured. The vaunted French healthcare system offered her essentially no care.
Well, something good has to be said of a culture that eats cheese and drinks wine all day. Ask our “french” senator from Massachusetts what he thinks on this?
Consider the source. A leftist Jimmy Carter remnant is their leader.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_Fund
My wife was in healthcare in the USAF in the early 1990s. At a Tricare meeting in DC, Ted Kennedy spoke. Here’s the money quote in answer to the question of when we will get universal healthcare... paraphrased... We are going to break the current system. Then we will be able to step in with a universal model solution.
The report is bogus and completely subjective.
Commonwealth Fund BOD:
Board of Directors
November 16, 2007
James R. Tallon, Jr., Chairman
Mr. Tallon, president of the United Hospital Fund of New York, is recognized nationally for his leadership in health care policy.
Cristine Russell, Vice Chairman
Ms. Russell is an award-winning reporter who has covered science, medicine, and health for three decades.
William R. Brody, M.D.
Dr. Brody is president of The Johns Hopkins University, where he oversees nine schools including the School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Benjamin K. Chu, M.D.
Dr. Chu is regional president, Southern California, with Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospital.
Karen Davis
Ms. Davis is president of The Commonwealth Fund. Prior to joining the Fund in 1992, she was professor of economics and chairman of the Department of Health Policy and Management at The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Samuel C. Fleming
Mr. Fleming is founder and director of Decision Resources, Inc., a world leader in research publications, advisory services, and consulting.
Jane E. Henney, M.D.
Dr. Henney is senior vice president and provost for health affairs at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Walter E. Massey
Dr. Massey has been president of Morehouse College in Atlanta since 1995 and previously served as director of the National Science Foundation under President George H. W. Bush.
James J. Mongan, M.D.
Dr. Mongan is president and chief executive officer of Partners HealthCare and chair of the Fund’s Commission on a High Performance Health System.
Robert C. Pozen
Mr. Pozen is chairman of MFS Investment Management.
William Y. Yun
Mr. Yun is president of Fiduciary Trust, a wholly owned subsidiary of Franklin Templeton Investments, and has overall responsibility for all investment management and research activities at the Trust.
(a virtual who’s who of socialized medicine, with a “hate america first bent”)
That’s what I would like to know as well. If you figure in the “private” health care results — hm. If this is only based on “public” facilities — yeah there would be an ‘issue’ with expedient care. But then, a lot of us use private hospitals, private doctors, etc.
Personally I have never experienced a delay in treatment when I (or my insurer) am paying.
Someone needs to remind the rest of the world that the gov’t doesn’t provide our healthcare. And realistically if you looked at our ENTIRE system would these results be the same? I mean geez, can’t improve that much when it is already darn good ;)
Must be the fourth or fifth posting of this. Our health care system is suberb once you jump through all the hoops. Getting to see an actual doctor outside of a hospital is another thing entirely. Its kind of like spotting a whooping crane in your backyard.
Did George Soros sponsor this study too? (See LANCET)
A couple parts of the article I thought most interesting
“The researchers found that while most countries surveyed saw preventable deaths decline by an average of 16 percent, the United States saw only a four percent dip.”
“Had the United States performed as well as any of the top three industrialized countries, there would have been 101,000 fewer deaths per year, the researchers said.”
I call BS on this article and an obvious effort to push socialized healthcare.
That's the way it's supposed to be........
I call complete and total BS.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.