Americans are much more likely to have trouble paying medical bills or getting a quick appointment with a doctor than their peers in 10 other high-income, industrialized countries, according to a new study.
Even Americans with insurance are more likely to forgo care because of high costs and to struggle to pay big bills, according to the survey, conducted by The Commonwealth Fund. And the United States spends far more on health care per person than other nations, to the tune of $3,000 more per head than the next closest nation.
Most of the other countries in the survey have public insurance systems with varying roles for the private market, but the report also includes ones with competing insurers, such as Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands. The U.S. is alone in its complexity of health insurance plans, mix of public and private insurance programs and relatively limited regulations.
This leads to Americans paying a lot more out-of-pocket than their counterparts.