Econintersect:  The U.S. continues to rate very poorly for healthcare among wealthy countries.  In a report just issued by the Commonwealth Fund, data collected 2011-2013 shows the U.S. ranked last of the eleven countries surveyed.  However, for overall quality of care the U.S. ranked fifth.  Specific characteristics ranking highly were effectiveness of care (3), patient-oriented care (4) and timeliness of care (5).  But rankings of 7 for safety, 9 for access and 11 for cost, efficiency, equity and healthy lives sank the overall ranking to the bottom.  The U.S. managed to edge out Canada which finished in tenth place.

The UK and Switzerland topped the ranking.  The UK ranked first in all characteristics except for equity (2), timeliness (3) and healthy lives (10).  Switzerland ranked poorly in effective care (7) and efficiency (6).

Here is the abstract for the report:

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