A new study confirms that Americans pay about twice as much for their healthcare costs as people in other industrialized nations. The research, which appears in today's issue of Health Affairs, finds that Americans spent $5,267 per capita for healthcare in 2002, 53 percent more than their counterparts in other wealthy countries. Authors Gerald Anderson and Hugh Watson argue that higher incomes in the US and the cost of medical care are the major factors responsible.
"There is a popular misconception that we pay much more for health care in the United States compared to European and other industrialized countries because malpractice claims drive up costs and there are waiting lists in most other countries," says Anderson. "But what we found is that we pay more for health care for the simple reason that prices for health services are significantly higher."
- see this story from Health Affairs