When it comes to spending on medical care, the U.S. is easily outpacing other leading industrialized countries. A study conducted by the accounting firm Deloitte shows the country spends a higher percentage of its gross domestic product on healthcare (16%) than Canada (10.1%), France (11.0%), Germany (10.4%), Switzerland (10.8%) and the United Kingdom (8.4%). Per capita spending on healthcare also is the highest in the U.S. among these countries—$7,290 compared to $3,588 for Germany or $2,992 for the UK, for example.

 

Despite President Barack Obama’s repeated pronouncements that the reform law (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) will improve the lives of Americans, most are too confused to know what good the legislation has to offer. The latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll found 56% of those surveyed say they don’t yet have enough information to understand how the law will impact them personally, and 55% are confused about its provisions.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

2010 Global Survey of Health Care Consumers (Deloitte) (pages 5 and 21) (pdf)

Kaiser Health Tracking Poll April 2010 (Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation) (pdf)