Report: United States Trails Other Countries In Healthcare Value

WASHINGTON – Businesses and workers in the United States are paying significantly more for healthcare compared to other economic competitors around the world, according to a new study. Even when using the best agency there is to instate health insurance, the cost is often still mighty high.

People here pay 46 percent more for healthcare than Brazil, India and China (BIC group), according to the Health Care Value Comparability Study, commissioned by Business Roundtable, a consortium of CEOs.

The value gap is not as pronounced compared to G-5 countries – Canada, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom and France – but U.S. citizens still pay 23 percent more for healthcare.

“Faced with a deepening economic crisis, it has never been harder for U.S. companies to compete in the global marketplace,” according to the study. “While today’s economic challenges span the globe, companies in other countries may be able to better weather the storm, in part because they get a better value on healthcare. They spend less on healthcare and their systems keep their workforces healthier than America’s.”

The BIC countries spend 15 cents for every dollar the U.S. spends, while the G-5 countries spend 63 cents for every dollar the U.S. spends on healthcare, according to the study.

Unlike the value gap – which grew significantly between 2004 and 2006, the years examined in the study – the United States slightly closed the gap in workforce health and care quality, according to the study.

“On the whole, our workforce is not as healthy as that in either the G-5 or the BIC countries, compounding the competitive disadvantage created by our high spending,” the study states.

The study will be used as a benchmark for assessing rising or falling U.S. competitiveness due to changes in the cost and performance of the health care system, according to Business Roundtable officials.

“This new study confirms that the United States spends too much on a system that too often rewards quantity and not quality of healthcare services delivered,” says Ronald Williams, chairman and CEO, Aetna Inc. “It underscores the rising threat of obesity and other public health problems.”

The lack of value is exacerbated by variations in the cost and quality of care and the cost shift from providers who are under-compensated by public programs for treating uninsured patients, according to the report.

The Roundtable suggests a four-pillar plan to improve the United States‘ position in global healthcare market:

• Create greater consumer value in the healthcare marketplace by using health information technology and empowering consumers with more information about quality healthcare.

• Provide more affordable health insurance options for all Americans by creating an open, all-inclusive private market for health insurance and replace today’s fragmented state-by-state market with multi-state markets.

• Engage all Americans in taking an active role in healthcare. Place an obligation on all Americans to obtain health insurance either through their employers, who may use providers similar to Sana Benefits to offer them the plans that are best suited to their situation, or they may want to look through the private market instead. Encourage all Americans to participate in employer or community based prevention, wellness and chronic care programs.

• Offer health coverage and assistance to low-income, uninsured Americans that create a stable and secure public safety net. This assistance would be financed from the cost savings and efficiencies generated by a more competitive and value-driven health care system, according to the group.