Preventable Diseases Performance

USA’s poor amenable mortality
(unnecessary deaths under age 75)
and its root cause

Summary:

We Americans have too much complexity in how we pay for health care (as a country).

The complexity
     » contributes to »
      the U.S. very high cost.

The very high cost …
      » contributes to »
      a very low number of visits to physicians.

The low number of physician visits (lack of care) …
      » contributes to »
      the U.S. poor performance

• High Cost. The USA’s very high cost for health care is a barrier that keeps Americans from going to the doctor.
• Low Visits. World-wide statistics confirm that many Americans do not get to the doctor. The number of physician visits per year is low compared to other countries.
• Poor Performance. The low number of physician visits is a significant contributor towards the USA’s high amenable mortality: the number of deaths of persons under age 75 due to the lack of timely and effective health care. As one medical researcher stated: “I think health care in the U.S. is pretty good if you have access. But if you don’t, I think that’s the main problem, isn’t it?”
• Dead Last. The United States is 19th out of 19 countries in its ability to minimize deaths due to preventable diseases. Not only that, but the USA performance has gotten worse in recent years.
• A Solution. The plan to inform Americans and invite them to help will be a major contributor to getting an Improved Medicare for All. Then we Americans will have simplicity in how we pay for health care (as a country).

The Complexity

It is impossible to draw the degree of complexity of how the U.S. pays for health care. No drawing would do it justice. The complexity involves too many government programs when we don’t need any; we only need a separate public agency that simply collects the money and pays the bills. The complexity includes too much involvement of all levels of government when we don’t need any. The complexity includes thousands of health insurance plans; we only need one. The complexity involves many payers of bills; we only need one, the separate public agency. The complexity consumes the time of most medical professionals, when all of them should spend all of their time on health care. The complexity … (goes on and on and on).

We provide you with a flow chart (pdf) that gives you some idea of the complexity at a “high level”.

The Cost

The Number of Visits to Physicians

The Performance

Deaths due to Preventable Diseases: Dead Last

Rankings 1st to 19th. France, Japan, Australia, Spain, Italy, Canada, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, Greece, Austria, Germany, Finland, New Zealand, Denmark, Britain, Ireland, Portugal, United States

See the dramatic drop to the bottom, below, while Canada improved in performance.

Deaths Go from Bad to Worst
Regarding U.S. Preventable Diseases

Sources: University of London’s 2003 report and 2008 report

Sources

OECD 2009 Report: The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is an organization of 30 industrialized. Its report is “OECD Health Data 2009: Statistics and Indicators for 30 Countries”, from which the data was obtained for specific bar charts of this web page, as noted on the charts. Please note that the 2009 report has data through 2007. The numbers on the bar chart are the averages of available data for the years 2003 through 2007. The “Average of Six” is the population-based (population adjusted) average for the six countries noted. For a more extensive reporting of the performance of the six countries … and the comparison of the USA to their “Average of Six” go to the “Six Countries” report.

75,000 and 101,000 preventable deaths per year

• As indicated below by the Commonwealth Fund information, 75,000 is the conservative number of persons who die in the U.S. due to the United States failing to do an adequate job at prevention, at least as compared to the 18 other countries.
• As reported by the Commonwealth Fund
  • “… authors estimated that approximately 75,000 to 101,00 preventable deaths could be averted in the U.S. “[E]ven the more conservative estimate of 75,000 deaths is almost twice the Institute of Medicine’s (lower) estimate of the number of deaths attributable to medical errors in the United States each year,” the authors say.”
• As also reported by Reuters
  • “ … I wouldn’t say it (the last-place ranking) is a condemnation, because I think health care in the U.S. is pretty good if you have access. But if you don’t, I think that’s the main problem, isn’t it?” (bolding added)
  • ” … the researchers considered deaths before age 75 from numerous causes, including heart disease, stroke, certain cancers, diabetes, certain bacterial infections and complications of common surgical procedures.”

Suggestion: Follow the Plan