Healthcare challenge: How America compares

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, right, talks with Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich.,
ranking Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee May 6, 2009, at the committee's hearing
on health care reform. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

 

 Universal health care models vary, but America alone does not have one:  

 The United States is the only developed economy that does not offer universal healthcare to all its citizens. Americans paid 16.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) for health care services in 2007 compared with an average of 8.7 percent of GDP in comparable (OECD) countries. American healthcare expenditures totaled up to $2.4 trillion in 2007 out of a total GDP of $13.8 trillion.

Statistics that monitor healthcare outcomes show citizens of comparably developed countries are better off than Americans when matched on almost all key metrics. This does not mean to infer, however, that the best of American medicine is inferior to that practiced anywhere else. America’s Doctors continue to innovate with enviable success.

In 2009, the political climate may be ripe for dramatic change. A new progressive administration and progressive majority Congress have come to power. Even so, many different schemes will be advanced. Far too many competing interests are at stake for change to occur under the radar. The design process will be contentious, controversial, and terribly complex. Today week, President Obama will announce an agreement between major trade groups to restrain cost growth. Congress will meet behind closed doors to hash out reform proposals.

According to “Forbes,” 84 percent of insured adults are now afraid that health costs will exceed their ability to pay. The Annenberg Public Policy Center attributes half of all personal bankruptcies to health care expenses.

Some manufacturing interests have joined with labor and progressive groups to lobby for change they see as inevitable and desirable. These business interests would rather help design a system than allow costs of employer negotiated plans to continue unpredictable increases.

Negotiating reform will not be a smooth process. Specters of long lines for service, socialized medicine, single payers, and procedure rationing will loom over the process. Although the long term goal will be to reduce costs and improve quality of care, transitioning from a broken system will not be inexpensive. Getting from here to there over an extended period will be exceptionally difficult in a society where success is measured by three-month-long quarters and the daily stock report.
 

As America searches for solutions leading to a reformation of its own health care system, knowing the successes and shortcomings of health care regimes in other developed nations will be essential in negotiating the most palatable and efficient design for all concerned. This series attempts to connect the dots and explode the talking points in hopes that the folks who actually have a vote might come to a conclusion.

Al Portner is a former daily newspaper editor and publisher in seven states and author of the forthcoming “Mark Twain and the Tale of Grant’s Memoir.” He can be reached at alanportner@theassignmentdesk.net.