if this isn't distressing...

The Commonwealth Fund's update of their report, Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, is out, and it's not a pretty picture for US healthcare...but really, did you expect anything more from a country that focuses on the pocketbooks instead of the well-being of its inhabitants?

Here's the deal. As US-ians, we spend about double per capita than the next closest nation on our healthcare, but IT STILL SUCKS. We should be asking ourselves why countries with smaller GDPs and much lower per capita healthcare expenditures can provide much better and satisfactory care than our own. If you ask me, it's because we treat healthcare as an industry, and not a right.

As a healthcare provider, this graph frightens me. I know that I provide the absolute best care that I can for each and every one of my patients, and so do other healthcare providers, but when the delivery system itself is broken, the quality of care is only part of the picture. For overall healthcare performance, we rank last. DEAD LAST. [emphasis on the dead.] Now there are some bright spots in the report, such as our top ranking in preventative care and short wait times to see specialists, but this is drastically overshadowed by our inability to to provide equal access to care and frankly, adequate care. It's also frustrating to see that, as a nation that continually proclaims itself to be the greatest, the USA has the lowest ranking among the countries studied of people living long, healthy, productive lives.

Indicative of how our priorities are messed up, eh?

I'm lucky. I have healthcare coverage that extends beyond waiting until the symptoms are life-threatening and going to the emergency room. I also pay an arm and a leg for it, and can only see certain healthcare providers unless I want to shoulder more of the cost, but it certainly beats being uninsured or under-insured.

peace and love,

m