So here's a pop quiz: Which of the following countries spends the most public money on health care? Canada, France, Germany, Japan, The Netherlands, Switzerland, United Kingdom or the United States.
The answer is the United States, which may surprise those who consider our nation to be the apotheosis of private-enterprise health care. It is true that, as a percentage of health care spending, the U.S. is more “private” than these other countries. Taxpayers pick up only 45 percent of our national health care tab, compared to 59 percent for the next-most-private system, Switzerland, or 82 percent for the most public system, the United Kingdom’s.
(All figures are for 2007 except for Japan, which is for 2006)
But health care is so hugely more expensive in the U.S. than in these other countries that our 45 percent adds up to more dollars, person for person, than their 59 percent, or even 82 percent.
In fact, if you look closely at this chart, you’ll see that we are already paying more, through our taxes, than Japan and England spend on their entire health care systems—and almost as much as they’re paying in France and Germany.
Did I mention that we are the only country on this list that does not have universal health care?
This is one of the many fascinating nuggets of information to be found in the newly-released 2009 edition of health data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a consortium of 30 industrialized countries.
Over the next few days, I’ll be exploring these statistics in more depth to find out what—if anything—we are getting in exchange for this extravagant spending.
—Nancy Metcalf, Senior Program Editor
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