U.S. medical services are at the bottom of 11 industrialized countries

Source: Forbes CN June 19, 2014: earlier this year, GM's Cadillac brand launched a controversial TV ad, which was first broadcast during the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics The short film, entitled "poolside," starring actor Neal McDonough, extols the American work ethic as superior to those of other countries - especially the French But it is clear that many of those "other countries" (including France) are much better than the United States in at least one aspect not mentioned in Cadillac's ads - medical services At least, that's according to what the federal fund, a private foundation dedicated to improving the health care system in the United States, revealed in its latest report, "magic mirror, mirror on the wall - what's new in 2014." In this year's survey of overall health services in some countries, federal funds ranked the United States last The specific rankings are: 1 Britain 2 Switzerland 3 Sweden 4 Australia 5 Germany and the Netherlands (tied) 7 New Zealand and Norway (tied) 9 France 10 Canada 11 The United States The public generally believes that the medical service system in the United States is the most expensive in the world, but many Americans still mistakenly believe that we pay higher medical expenses because we can get better medical services (or better medical service results) However, the data available clearly do not support this view The report itself is fairly short (32 pages in total), but includes previous surveys and national health system scorecards, as well as data from the World Health Organization and the organisation for economic cooperation and development The report also lists a series of major findings (abbreviated as follows): quality: quality indicators are divided into four categories: medical effectiveness, medical safety, coordination of medical services, and patient-centered medical services Compared with ten other countries, the United States has the best scores in providing and accessing preventive and patient-based health services Coverage: there's no doubt that Americans don't have access to the health services they need because, in most cases, the cost of health care in the United States is higher than in other countries Efficiency: in terms of efficiency indicators, the United States ranks last among the 11 countries, while the United Kingdom and Sweden rank first and second respectively The United States is not good at indicators of national medical and administrative expenses, but also in indicators of administrative interference, unnecessary use of emergency room and repeated medical examination Fairness: in terms of fairness indicators, the United States is clearly at the bottom of the list Americans with below average incomes are far more likely to choose not to see a doctor when they are ill than their counterparts in other countries; they will not receive the examination, treatment or follow-up medical services recommended by their doctors; or they will not follow the prescription or take medicine due to cost problems At least one-third of low-income adults in the United States say they have not received the proper medical services in the past year because of the cost Healthy living: the United States ranked last overall, with low scores on all three indicators of healthy living (medically avoidable mortality, infant mortality, and healthy life expectancy predicted by the 60 year old population) Overall, France, Sweden and Switzerland are in the top three in terms of healthy living Perhaps the most important new information we have is this: the most significant difference between the United States and other industrialized countries is that there is no universal health insurance Other countries, through the universal health service system, ensure that everyone has access to the medical services they need by strengthening the links between patients and the doctor's clinic, which is their medical home ——Unfortunately, many people still equate the "universal medical service system" with "government operation" or "single payer" medical service system This is not the case (universal health insurance is not "single payer" health insurance) All this makes Cadillac's reckless advertising more brazen Don't forget that the U.S government's emergency assistance to GM came to an end just seven months ago For the U.S auto industry facing severe financial difficulties, one of the reasons that people often mention is the ever expanding medical expenses Just as Starbucks spends more on its employees' health benefits than the purchase of coffee beans * *, General Motors (at least in 2005) spends more on medical and welfare benefits than buying steel The United States stands out in many areas, but clearly the state of universal health care (and all its components) is not one of them isn't it?