Cost Per Person

U.S.: 2.5 (250%) times the average of other countries

Other free-market countries:
0.40 (40%) times the U.S. cost per person

Basis: OECD Health Data 2009
       Position at the bar chart.
NOTE: The countries in the chart below are examples among the entire list
of 29 countries. The countries are listed at the bottom of this web page
with a link to a more recent year's detailed data.

UPDATED AND HISTORICAL DATA

UPDATE of the cost per person of OECD countries and the ratio

2012 Report  (October 2012 ) of OECD Health Data

Cost per person in the U.S. = $8,233

Cost per person as per the average
of the other free-market countries = $3,303

$8,233 / $3,303 = 2.5

HISTORICALLY, the ratio has been between 2.5 and 2.6

Since the late 1990's the ratio has generally been between 2.5 and 2.6.

Therefore, it is accurate to report that U.S. health care costs are uniquely out of control compared to other free-market countries.

It's accurate to report that U.S. health care costs are MORE THAN TWICE the cost of other free-market, industrialized countries's health care costs.

A web page with more detailed information about the cost per person by country is available.

Sources

The data is provided via OECD reporting of the member organization of industrialized countries called the “Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development” (OECD). Some people call these "industrialized countries" or "rich countries". We track the 30 that became members during 1961 through 2009. The other 29 countries are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. The factor of over double (2.5) has been consistent for many years.