Less Hospital Care in U. S.

Continuing to explore Gerard F. Anderson's and Patricia Markovich's  study Multinational Comparisons of Health System Data, 2008, today, I look at the provision of services.  One of the reasons often cited for opposing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is an irrational fear that government will withhold services or restrict the supply of services in ways that harm the population that elects the government.  

So, how do things in the United States compare with the rest of the developed world which has adopted programs to provide universal health care coverage?  The following chart shows that most of the world gets more hospital care than do Americans.  The number of hospital discharges per thousand is higher in eight of the 12 countries examined, and lower than the rate of discharges per thousand in the United States in only two countries.  In France and Germany, the number of discharges per thousand averages two times as many as in the United States.  (Click to enlarge graph.)

Following a heart attack, the amount of time patients spend in the hospital is longer in eight of 11 countries studied, than in the United States, and shorter than the United States' average in only two countries.  (Click to enlarge graph.)

These data, while not definitive, do not support a concern that health care services are severely restricted to hold down costs.  For hospitalization, and for care following AMI, OECD countries in general provide more care than is provided to Americans. Tomorrow, I will be looking at data for knee and hip replacements, and coronary artery bypass grafting.