In New Survey Of Eleven Countries, US Adults Still Struggle With Access To And Affordability Of Health Care

Abstract

Surveys of patients' experiences with health care services can reveal how well a country's health system is meeting the needs of its population. Using data from a 2016 survey conducted in eleven countries-Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States-we found that US adults reported poor health and well-being and were the most likely to experience material hardship. The United States trailed other countries in making health care affordable and ranked poorly on providing timely access to medical care (except specialist care). In all countries, shortfalls in patient engagement and chronic care management were reported, and at least one in five adults experienced a care coordination problem. Problems were often particularly acute for low-income adults. Overall, the Netherlands performed at the top of the eleven-country range on most measures of access, engagement, and coordination.

Is Cost-Related Non-Adherence to Medical Care Unique to the USA?

“…According to another recent study, followed by Switzerland (22%), New Zealand (18%), France (17%), Canada (16%), Australia (14%), Norway (10%), Netherland (8%), Sweden (8%), UK (7%), and Germany (7%) [4]. The same study also shows significant variation in CRN rates by income in each of those countries.…”

Expanding the breadth of Medicare: learning from Australia

“…Australia and Canada were two of the original five nations included in the Commonwealth Fund's International Health Policy survey, the others being New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States (Donelan et al, 1999;Schoen et al, 2000), and Australia remains one of the 11 countries in the contemporary surveys (Osborn et al, 2016). This paper is the first to identify whole system lessons for Canada from the Australian health system.…”

Addressing the Needs of an Aging Population in the Health System: The Australian Case

“…Responses by Australian adults with chronic conditions also suggest that Australia was among the better performers, although there were obvious issues of concern: 24% of adults with a chronic condition did not discuss their goals and priorities of caring for their condition in the preceding year with a health care provider, and 26% did not discuss their treatment. 18 However, focusing on patients with greater need, including individuals with multiple chronic disease morbidities, suggests challenges not apparent from a survey of adults alone. In a 9 high-income country survey among patients identified with a higher level of need (individuals with three or more chronic conditions or that needed help with activities of daily living), 19% reported cost-related problems with access to health services (second worst after the US); 11% reported an unnecessary emergency department visit; 32% reported problems with care coordination (behind the best performing France and Netherlands); and 13% thought a medical mistake was made (third worst after Sweden and Switzerland, and alongside US) in their treatment.…”