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(Dailymail.co.uk) A new survey on health care is revealing that you may not be getting what you pay for if you check into a U.S. hospital.
The U.S. healthcare system is more effective at delivering high costs than quality care than other developed nations, according to the study, conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD.
It found first-rate treatment for cancer but insufficient primary care for other ailments.
The study said Americans pay more than $7,900 per person for healthcare each year - far more than any other OECD country - but still die earlier than their peers in the industrialized world.
The cost of healthcare in the United States is 62 percent higher than that in Switzerland, which has a similar per capita income and also relies substantially on private health insurance.
Meanwhile, Americans receive comparatively little actual care, despite sky-high prices driven by expensive tests and procedures. They also spend more tax money on healthcare than most other countries, the study showed.
An 'underdeveloped' U.S. primary care system is plagued by shortages of family doctors and high rates of avoidable hospital admissions for people with asthma, lung disease, diabetes, hypertension and other common illnesses.
The growth in U.S. life expectancy over the past half century is also below average, gaining only 8.3 years since 1960 compared with an 11.2-year OECD average.
The OECD said U.S. life expectancy of 78.2 years ranked 28th - just behind Chile's and well below the average of 79.5 years among member nations.
The United States was ranked fourth from the bottom for premature mortality, which focuses on deaths among younger people.
The measure, which reflects dangers posed by violence, accidents and environmental hazards, puts America behind all others except Hungary, Mexico and Russia.
Mark Pearson, head of the OECD health division, said researchers believe national mortality rates increasingly reflect the quality of healthcare, though more than half of the equation is still believed to lie with other indicators including lifestyle and diet.
The country with the highest life expectancy is Japan (83). Read More...
