National sections include detailed subsections on each nation’s health system, population health coverage, health system expenditures, financing, costs to consumers, outcomes, and much more. These include Beveridge-model systems (e.g. Sweden, UK); Bismarck-model systems (e.g. Germany, Japan); hybrid “Bev-Marck” systems (e.g. Austria, Costa Rica); and national health insurance model systems (e.g. Canada, South Korea).

Several attempts have been made to compare and rank national health systems, most notably the Health Access and Quality (HAQ) Index and the Sustainable Development Goals Health Index. For more information on those, see our section on Comparing National Health Systems.

“• Spending on health was about USD 4,000 per person (adjusted for purchasing powers), on average across OECD countries. The United States spent more than all other countries by a considerable margin, at over USD 10,000 per resident. Mexico spent the least, at around USD 1,150 per resident.

“• Health expenditure has largely outpaced economic growth in the past, and despite a slowdown in recent years, is expected to do so in the future. New estimates point to health spending reaching 10.2% of GDP by 2030 across OECD countries, up from 8.8% in 2018. This raises sustainability concerns, particularly as most countries draw funding largely from public sources.

“• Reforms to improve economic efficiency are critical. Increased use of generics has generated cost-savings, though generics only represent around half of the volume of pharmaceuticals sold across OECD countries. Increases in day surgery, lower hospitalisation rates and shorter stays may also indicate a more efficient use of expensive hospital resources.

“• In OECD countries, health and social systems employ more workers now than at any other time in history, with about one in every ten jobs found in health or social care. Shifting tasks from doctors to nurses and other health professionals can alleviate cost pressures and improve efficiency.

“• Population ageing increases demand for health services, particularly for long-term care. This places more pressure on family members, particularly women, with around 13% of people aged 50 and over providing informal care at least once a week for a dependent relative or friend. By 2050, the share of the population aged 80 and over will more than double.”

Source: OECD (2019), Health at a Glance 2019: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/4dd50c09-en.

“• On average across OECD countries, a person born today can expect to live almost 81 years. But life expectancy gains have slowed recently across most OECD countries, especially in the United States, France and the Netherlands. 2015 was a particularly bad year, with life expectancy falling in 19 countries.

“• The causes are multifaceted. Rising levels of obesity and diabetes have made it difficult to maintain previous progress in cutting deaths from heart disease and stroke. Respiratory diseases such as influenza and pneumonia have claimed more lives in recent years, notably amongst older people.

“• In some countries the opioid crisis has caused more working-age adults to die from drug-related accidental poisoning. Opioid-related deaths have increased by about 20% since 2011, and have claimed about 400 000 lives in the United States alone. Opioid-related deaths are also relatively high in Canada, Estonia and Sweden.

“• Heart attacks, stroke and other circulatory diseases caused about one in three deaths across the OECD; and one in four deaths were related to cancer. Better prevention and health care could have averted almost 3 million premature deaths.

“• Almost one in ten adults consider themselves to be in bad health. This reflects in part the burden of chronic diseases – almost a third of adults live with two or more chronic conditions. Mental ill health also takes its toll, with an estimated one in two people experiencing a mental health problem in their lifetime.”

Source: OECD (2019), Health at a Glance 2019: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/4dd50c09-en.

Breaking News

• Massive Savings Possible In US Health System October 21, 2021
  October 21, 2021The management consulting firm McKinsey & Company has issued a new report estimating that administrative changes and efficiencies could save the US health system more than a quarter trillion dollars. As noted in a Viewpoint article published in JAMA on October 20:“The analysis dissected profit and loss statements of individual health care organizations, estimated ...
• Health Care in the US Compared to Other High-Income Countries August 6, 2021
  On August 4, the Commonwealth Fund issued a new report entitled Mirror, Mirror 2021: Reflecting Poorly / Health Care in the US Compared to Other High-Income Countries.The report compares health care systems in eleven nations: the United States, Canada, Switzerland, France, Sweden, New Zealand, Germany, the United Kingdom, Australia, the Netherlands, and Norway.The report’s key ...
• Medical Debt in Collections in the US August 6, 2021
  On July 20, JAMA published an article on medical debt in collections in the US entitled “Medical Debt in the US, 2009-2020.”The researchers found: “In this retrospective analysis of credit reports for a nationally representative 10% panel of individuals, an estimated 17.8% of individuals in the US had medical debt in collections in June 2020 ...

Health Systems Facts is a project of the Real Reporting Foundation. We provide reliable statistics and other data from authoritative sources regarding health systems in the US and several other nations.

Page last updated Nov. 10, 2021 by Doug McVay, Editor.