U.S. ranked last on scorecard of health care systems

For the fifth consecutive year, the Commonwealth Fund listed the U.S. last in a ranking of health systems of Western industrialized nations. The rankings looked at quality, outcomes and efficiency.

The Washington Post: Once Again, U.S. Has Most Expensive, Least Effective Health Care System In Survey
A report released Monday by a respected think tank ranks the United States dead last in the quality of its health-care system when compared with 10 other western, industrialized nations, the same spot it occupied in four previous studies by the same organization. Not only did the U.S. fail to move up between 2004 and 2014 -; as other nations did with concerted effort and significant reforms -; it also has maintained this dubious distinction while spending far more per capita ($8,508) on health care than Norway ($5,669), which has the second most expensive system (Bernstein, 6/16).

Politico Pro: U.S. Ranks Last On International Health Scorecard
The United States finished last on the Commonwealth Fund's international ranking of industrialized health systems for the fifth consecutive time. But the report's authors are optimistic that next time around, the Affordable Care Act will help boost America in the rankings. That lackluster performance comes even though the U.S. spends $8,508 per person in 2011, thousands more than the top-ranked country, the United Kingdom, which spent just $3,406 per person. The other countries included in the 2014 update of "Mirror Mirror On The Wall: How The Performance of the U.S. Health Care System Compares Internationally," are Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand Norway, Sweden and Switzerland (Villacorta, 6/16).