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.