Healthcare Systems
Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth - Marcus Aurelius

image by: Max Roser
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How to compare health-care systems
BRITAIN'S National Health Service (NHS) was recently judged the “world’s best health-care system” by the Washington-based Commonwealth Fund in its latest ranking of 11 rich countries’ health provision. The Commonwealth Fund tends to give the NHS a pretty clean bill of health in its assessments (it also scores Switzerland, Sweden and Australia highly). Other rankings reach different conclusions. How do you compare something as complex as a national health-care system with its peers?
The Commonwealth Fund makes quality, access, value for money and equity the leading criteria for judging which countries perform well. Its emphasis on access and per-capita spending mean that America,…
Resources
Everybody Covered
What the US can learn from other countries’ health systems.
The Best Health Care System in the World: Which One Would You Pick?
To better understand one of the most heated U.S. policy debates, we created a tournament to judge which of these nations has the best health system: Canada, Britain, Singapore, Germany, Switzerland, France, Australia and the U.S.
The healthiest countries to live in
The fight at the frontlines of Covid-19 is being waged in clinics and hospitals around the world. But the success of that fight has, in large part, depended on the effectiveness of the healthcare systems in each country. So far, there’s been a noticeable correlation between a country’s ability to contain the virus and previous rankings of its healthcare system to provide positive health outcomes.
Are Healthcare Systems About to be Amazoned? Telemedicine and Lessons from Internet Services
Two decades ago, few people would have accepted the idea that the upstart online bookseller Amazon.com would ultimately undermine the profitability and survival of brick and mortar retail chains. Now, telemedicine platforms are poised to create the same type of dramatic disruption in the delivery of healthcare services. And, I increasingly find that healthcare executives are in denial. Many healthcare industry leaders steadfastly believe that the benefits of their physical presence will provide a permanent bulwark against competition originating in the digital realm. Sadly, they are mistaken.
Do Health System Rankings Matter When Monitoring Health Reform?
Unfortunately, our current health system inputs are stuck in the 20th century. More work is needed to make these connections across countries to improve our comparisons. Improvement in health insurance coverage is a start, but much more needs to be done to identify areas of inefficiency in our health system.
France and U.S. Health Care: Twins Separated at Birth?
France has been called the best healthcare system in the world by the World Health Organization. And if there's something everyone in the US seems to agree on, it's that US healthcare, well, horribly sucks, although they strongly disagree about why and what to do about it. And yet, to me, the similarities are glaring...
Health Care Systems: Three International Comparisons
Every other advanced industrial country in the world has found a way to guarantee decent health care to all its citizens. In terms of policy challenges, the United States can look to the revelations of the key measures of international experience. We can adapt these measures, add some of our own, and create an American system that can make us secure in the new century.
How sick are the world’s healthcare systems?
The NHS is in trouble and its chief executive has requested £8bn to save it. But how does Britain’s system compare with healthcare around the world – and what can we learn? From hard-pressed India to highly organised Germany, eight Guardian correspondents report.
International Health Care System Profiles
Across the globe, health care policymakers face mounting pressure to lower costs while improving the quality and safety of care. The U.S. can learn a lot by examining other health systems, their performance in relation to ours, and their health care delivery and payment innovations. Explore this site to learn more about the health care systems in 19 countries.
It's Surprising How Few Countries Have National, Single Payer, Health Care Systems
There are indeed national health care systems out there--but they tend not to be single payer. And there are single payer systems out there, or close enough at least--but they tend not to be national. Which is something that we really ought to be thinking about, no?
Netherlands tops health care rankings, with UK in 14th place
A new report comparing European provision claims the NHS model is doomed.
Think the NHS is in poor health? Try being ill under the US system
Thanks to decades of lobbying by the US health industry, Americans pity Britain for our ailing hospitals and overworked doctors. But it’s the astronomic cost of US treatment that is truly sick.
This Man's Simple System Could Transform American Medicine
Developed by a trio of epidemiologists back in the ’80s, the NNT describes how many people would need to take a drug for one person to benefit. (The NNT for antibiotics in a case of acute bronchitis is effectively infinity, because the medicine is no better at curing the illness than a placebo.)
U.S. Has the Worst Health Care? Not By a Long Shot
A new Commonwealth Fund report is the latest to indict U.S. health care. It pegs the American system dead last in a survey of 11 developed countries. But like virtually every other study that trashes the U.S. healthcare system, Commonwealth's rankings rely on questionable assumptions, like giving weight to those systems that treat people equally rather than well. At the same time, Commonwealth ignores the problems that countries with socialized healthcare systems have actually treating people once they're sick.
How to compare health-care systems
When it comes to judging the world’s health systems, preferences and values guide conclusions, as well as raw data.
$200 Minus $200
Having a baby in Paris gave me a crash course in socialized medicine—and a new, very French definition of “costly.”
10 Health Care Systems Around the World
Myths abound about what health care is actually like in other countries, so let's go around the world and see for ourselves.
Top 9 Health Care Systems in the World
There has been much debate in recent years about whether health care is a privilege or right. While securing coverage for every U.S. citizen has been a priority for years, people often overlook the overall quality — or lack thereof — of our health care system. Without question, improvements can be made. So, how does it stack up against other health care systems around the world?
5 Countries with the Best Healthcare in the World
Healthcare is one of the most important factors potential expats consider before moving abroad and in the right places overseas it’s possible to access world-class care for a fraction of the cost back home. The five countries that take top places in our Annual Global Retirement Index offer retirees first-rate care, the service is top-class, and it’s affordable.
Access Health International
All people no matter where they live, no matter what their age, have the right to access high quality and affordable healthcare and to lead healthy and productive lives.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
OECD Health Care Quality Reviews seek to examine what works and what does not work in different countries – both to benchmark the efforts of countries and to provide advice on reforms to improve their health system.
The Commonwealth Fund
Select indicators from The Commonwealth Fund's latest International Health Policy Surveys and compare health system performance in 11 industrialized countries.

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