Patient Care Access News

Despite High Spend, US Ranks Lowest on Access to Care, Health Equity

The US ranked last in health equity, access to care, and health outcomes, despite spending the most on healthcare spending compared to other wealthy countries.

Despite High Spend, US Ranks Lowest on Access to Care, Health Equity

Source: Getty Images

By Jill McKeon

- The United States ranked last in The Commonwealth Fund’s reported measurements of health equity, access to care, administrative efficiency, and healthcare outcomes compared to ten other wealthy nations. 

This year’s edition of The Commonwealth Fund’s annual “Mirror, Mirror” report assessed 11 similarly wealthy countries and compared 71 performance measures of healthcare systems across five domains. The US ranked last in all except care process, where it ranked second.

The US achieved poor results in all but one category, despite the fact that it still spends more of its gross domestic product (GDP) on healthcare than any other nation.