Associated Press:
If the global economy were a 100-yard dash, the U.S. would start 23 yards behind its closest competitors because of health care that costs too much and delivers too little, a business group says in a report to be released Thursday.
The report from the Business Roundtable, which represents CEOs of major companies, says America's health care system has become a liability in a global economy.
Concern about high U.S. costs has existed for years, and business executives — whose companies provide health coverage for workers — have long called for getting costs under control. Now President Barack Obama says the costs have become unsustainable and the system must be overhauled.
According to the report, Business Roundtable's report tells us "Americans in 2006 spent $1,928 per capita on health care, at least two-and-a-half times more per person than any other advanced country."
That's right, it's two-and-a-half times as expensive to get what amounts to sub-par care. BR's study "compares statistics on life expectancy, death rates and even cholesterol readings and blood pressures" and returns a value of between 1-100, with 100 being perfect.
"The United States is 23 points behind five leading economic competitors: Canada, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom and France. The five nations cover all their citizens, and though their systems differ, in each country the government plays a much larger role than in the U.S.," AP reports. "The cost-benefit disparity is even wider — 46 points — when the U.S. is compared with emerging competitors: China, Brazil and India."
So much for the "best health care system in the world"; it's both expensive and ineffective. In other words, it's a ripoff.
