At a time when “Obamacare” is dogged by scepticism, poor response and an all-out Republican assault, a new international survey has only confirmed the ills plaguing the American healthcare system: that it is the world’s most expensive and problem-ridden system with people struggling to pay medical bills and in a state of perpetual conflict with the insurance establishment.
The system is so flawed that more than one-third of American adults (37 per cent) just opt to forgo medical care by not seeing a doctor when sick or failing to take prescription medicines because of the cost factor, says the Commonwealth Fund in its survey of 11 advanced countries. The corresponding figure in some of the other nations covered by the survey was as low as 4 per cent to 6 per cent.
It’s not just the uninsured people who were unlikely to afford health care in the US, the survey noted, highlighting the fact that even those insured were more likely than adults in other advanced countries to forgo care because of high costs. More than 42 per cent of the insured reported paying $1,000 or more out-of-pocket for medical care.
“US health insurance has higher deductibles and higher cost-sharing, and odes not place limits on out-of-pocket costs,” said the study, noting: “This potentially explains why even people with health insurance in the US struggle to afford needed health care.”
The survey covered more than 20,000 adults from the US and 10 other nations with high incomes: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Besides having difficulty in paying the medical bills, the American adults complained of time-consuming health insurance paperwork and disputes over unpaid claims.
“The US has always been an outlier when it comes to costs, access and affordability. Far too many people go without care or can’t afford to be sick, even when they have health insurance,” said Cathy Schoen, senior vice-president of Commonwealth Fund and lead author of the study.