The healthcare industry is an important component of every society as it ensures that members are able to receive the most appropriate treatment for their various health concerns. In the modern society, the health care standards have been sufficiently increased through technology innovation and adequate research on the treatment practices that will ensure the positive outcomes. However, this has resulted in significant increase of the care options. This is particularly evident in the first world countries many of which are part of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Through this organization, the member countries are able to share policy experiences and provide a platform to offer recommendations that will result in effective practice and coordinate domestic and international efforts to realize effective policies. The following paper identifies ten of the thirty four member states of OECD focusing on the GDP per capita and how it is related to the various health concerns. These countries include Canada, France, Germany, Denmark, Australia, Japan, Korea, Sweden, UK and US.
Health Care Spending
In the various industrialized countries, it is noted that health care spending has been quite high. This may be attributed to the high cost of care in these countries where the technology in the health industry and the research undertaken is significantly higher (Squires, 2012). Out of the ten countries mentioned above, the US is clearly the highest spender reaching a per capita spending of $8,713 (OECD, 2015). This is almost or more than double that of Canada, France, Denmark, Australia, Japan and even UK. The countries closest in terms of spending include Sweden and Germany with a per capita spending of $4,904 and $5,002. This is a high difference and may require the members of OECD to regroup and share various policy experiences as a means of reducing the cost of health care. This may be explained by the high levels of income in the US as opposed to the whereby the gross domestic product was at a staggering $54,353.
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There is a clear inflation in terms of the amount these countries have spent surpassing the GDP. The above figures indicate a significantly high percentage of GDP dedicated to health care 16.4% in the US. This is unlike any other country among the ten in this study as each of them has less than 12% of the GDP spent on health care (OECD, 2015). It is important to note the positive correlation between per capita income and the health care spending in these member countries of OECD. However, the high healthcare spending in the US is in no way associated to the amount of income as Sweden that has the closest per capita income at $4,904 has spent 11.0% of it on health care costs. If the US were to have a better per capita spending on healthcare, it would be lower if not similar to that of Sweden.
The analysis is clear that the US spends more than any of the industrialized countries on healthcare. Further study would be required to establish whether this is a result of higher cost of treatment or lower quality of care provided to the patients. It is important that research is carried out to identify the cause for this excessive spending on health care (OECD, 2015). Not only will it solve health concerns but also work in favor of the economy in realizing significant growth through reduced expenditure (Squires, 2012). It is a major concern as the federal government does not spend as much on healthcare as opposed to other countries in OECD.
Availability of Physicians for Health Care
As part of the study, the statistics identified the availability of physicians or doctors to a population of 1000. The US is seen to have a lower rate of doctors available to the population with only 2.6 per 1000 population (OECD, 2015). This is lower than numerous countries which have a significantly lower per capita spending on healthcare including France, Germany, Denmark, Australia, Sweden and UK. Canada is the only country that has an equal ratio of doctors available per 1000 population with 2.6. As a result of the high cost of health care spending in the US, it may be assumed that the US has a high demand for physicians and their utilization of these doctors would also be higher. However, the data provided by OECD suggests that this is an unfounded assumption. The low number of physicians per 1000 population is a clear indication of their low demand within the community and the low numbers of visits that patients may make to the available physicians.
The low number of physicians per capita could be a representative of the low levels of use for the hospitals available in the region. Through the use of hospitals, more doctors will be made available to the population. The high population of more than 300 million people in the US requires increased physicians or doctors made available (OECD, 2015). Even the UK that has a population five times less than the US has a doctor per 1000 population higher than the US at 2.8. This is a clear indication of the insufficient medical practitioners available to the population. Sweden with a population under 10 million has 4.0 doctors available to 1000 population (OECD, 2015). This high number is also associated with a low per capita spending in health care. This demonstrates that high cost of spending does not necessarily result in significant care provision required by the population.
The quality of care provided to the population is likely to improve with an increased number of physicians available to the population at hand. The low number of physicians in the US is a significant representation of the current trends and issues associated with the health sector in the country (Squires, 2012). Many of the associated professionals in the medical field indicate that increasing the number of staff in the country will ensure that the patients are offered appropriate attention and effective care. The low number of medical practitioners is also a significant to the numerous cases of unsatisfied patients after receiving care.
Quality of Care
Quality of care is an important factor in the consideration health sector concerns. This is where care provided to the patients will usually result in positive outcome. The satisfaction of the patient is also considered during their hospital visits or the process of recovery. The study findings indicate that the United States have the highest infant mortality rate. This is to mean that per 1000 live births there are 6.0 deaths occurring. This is particularly high for a country where its individual citizens spend annually $8,713 (OECD, 2015). It is expected that fewer deaths take place in the country as a measure to equal the spending on health care. The lowest infant mortality rate is evident in Japan at 2.1. It is seen however that Canada is the next after the US with a high infant mortality rate of 4.8. This statistical data may identify the poor state of medical care in the US and the other OECD countries within the study.
The US is also seen to have a lower life expectancy at birth which stands at 78.8 years (OECD, 2015). This is significantly lower as the rest of the countries in the study have a life expectancy above 80 years. This information could be decoded as a lack of effective and appropriate care provided to the members of society who are above the retirement age of 65. Additionally, assumptions are made that the high health care spending may be a result of increased spending on the members within this age group. However, evidence shows that the US has a significantly lower number of the elderly population as opposed to the other countries in the study. In 2009, only 13% of the population was above the age of 65. This is lower than the median amongst other OECD countries that had 16% elderly population (Squires, 2012). Once again, this points out to the unnecessary spending that the US undertakes as it does not result in improved health outcomes and instead has performed poorly against other OECD countries.
Conclusion
The above analysis of statistical data has a major focus on the United States in its performance against other countries. The US has been seen as having the highest spending on health care with per capita costs rising above $8,000. In many cases, this is double that of the other OECD countries in the study though there are cases where it is triple the spending of a country such as Korea. Despite high levels of spending, the infant mortality experienced is quite high at a rate of 6.0 per 1000 population. The US has also enjoyed the lowest life expectancy within the group of countries in the study. This information highlights the poor state of health care in the United States. According to studies, the high costs of spending have been attributed mainly to the use of high technology in treatment practices. This however does not seem to improve the outcomes that are expected by patients. It is important that further studies are undertaken to ensure that healthcare spending is reduced while the quality is improved significantly.
References
OECD (2015) Focus on Health Spending: OECD Health Statistics 2015 . OECD.org, Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/health/health-systems/Focus-Health-Spending-2015.pdf
Squires, D. A. (2012) “Explaining High Health Care Spending in the United States: An International Comparison of Supply, Utilization, Prices, and Quality”, The Commonwealth Fund , 10: 1-14.
