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  • Ending Poverty and Hunger: Meeting the Challenge of Millennium Development Goal 1 11/24
  • The Global Food Crisis: "The Silent Tsunami" The Brookings Institutions "will host a discussion on nutrition, school feeding programs and food security in the developing world, featuring World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick; Josette Sheeran, executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme; and Samuel Worthington, president and CEO of InterAction." 11/24
  • A Call to Copenhagen – Health Effects of Climate Change "Members of the press are invited to the unveiling and policy discussion of a major international study on the Public Health Impacts of Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions being published in Lancet, just in time for the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), one of the National Institutes of Health, is sponsoring the event which will feature speakers from around the world gathered in Washington, DC and at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine participating via live video conferencing." 11/25

U.S. Health System Ranks Lowest on Access Issues in Five-Country Survey

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Monday, May 20, 2002

More than one in five U.S. residents reported having difficulty accessing health services in the last year, in large part because of cost, according to a study in the current issue of Health Affairs. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and the Commonwealth Fund conducted telephone interviews with residents of five countries -- Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States -- in April and May 2001 to assess public attitudes toward health care. With the exception of the United States, all of the countries have universal health care systems. The study found that the United States "generally ranks at the bottom among the five countries on most indicators of patient views and experiences" (Health Affairs release, 5/14). Some of the study's findings include:
  • 21% of U.S. citizens reported having difficulty paying medical bills, compared to 12% of New Zealanders, 11% of Australians, 7% of Canadians and 3% of Britons.
  • 24% of U.S. respondents reported foregoing needed medical care because of cost, compared to 20% of New Zealanders, 11% of Australians, 5% of Canadians and 3% of Britons.
  • 26% of U.S. respondents said they did not fill a prescription because of cost concerns, compared to 19% of Australians, 15% of New Zealanders, 13% of Canadians and 7% of U.K. residents.
Among respondents with below-average incomes, the study found:
  • 35% of U.S. residents reported having problems paying their medical bills, compared to 20% of New Zealanders, 17% of Australians, 14% of Canadians and 4% of U.K. residents.
  • 36% of U.S. residents did not visit a doctor for needed care because of cost concerns, compared to 24% of New Zealanders, 14% of Australians, 9% of Canadians and 4% of U.K. residents.
  • 39% of U.S. residents did not fill a prescription because of cost, compared to 22% of Canadians, 21% of Australians, 20% of New Zealanders and 7% of Britons (Blendon et al., "Inequities In Health Care: A Five-Country Survey," Health Affairs, May/June 2002).
Cathy Schoen, study co-author and vice president for health policy, research and evaluation for the Commonwealth Fund, said, "When it comes to health care in the U.S., the experiences of lower-income people differ markedly from those with higher incomes on most measures of access, quality, and financial burden" (Health Affairs release, 5/14). The complete study is available online.

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