A pair of new reports out this week from the Commonwealth Fund is likely to add fire to the healthcare debate. The two new studies compare the efficiency of the U.S. healthcare system against that of six other industrialized nations and find that Americans pay about twice as much for care quality that often lags behind that in other countries. The U.S. did score well in some areas--namely in the effectiveness of care and in prevention, but disparities in care quality by income level "tell the true story," according to critics.
- read this article from Forbes
PLUS: Read the executive summary of "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: An Update on the Quality of American Health Care Through the Patient's Lens," from the Commonwealth Fund.
ALSO: Read the executive summary of "The U.S. Health Care Divide: Disparities in Primary Care Experiences by Income" from the Commonwealth Fund.