US Healthcare Costs

I got this chart from Washington Monthly. Kevin Drum got it from the Commonwealth Fund.

the U.S. health care system ranks last or next-to-last on five dimensions of a high performance health system: quality, access, efficiency, equity, and healthy lives. The U.S. is the only country in the study without universal health insurance coverage, partly accounting for its poor performance on access, equity, and health outcomes. The inclusion of physician survey data also shows the U.S. lagging in adoption of information technology and use of nurses to improve care coordination for the chronically ill.

USA ranks last. Ok, the dreaded Canadian system of healthcare doesn't do much better....except for the bottom line. Canadians lead "long, healthy, productive lives" when compared with Americans. And, at half the healthcare cost.