Preventable Diseases Performance
The United States’ poor performance regarding preventable diseases
[poor amenable mortality: avoidable deaths under age 75]
and its root cause
Position at summary.
Select the links in the Summary or scroll down the web page to see the explanations and charts:
Summary about the root cause and solution
regarding poor performance in health care outcomes: avoidable (unnecessary) pain, suffering
and deaths in the United States
Complexity —► High Cost
Our complexity in how we pay for health care (as a country) dramatically contributes to our country’s very high cost, which is a barrier that keeps Americans from seeing a doctor(s).
High Cost —► Low Number of Visits to Physicians
Our very high cost dramatically contributes to a very low number of visits to physicians. World-wide statistics confirm that many Americans do not get to the doctor. The number of visits to physicians per year is very low compared to other countries.
Low Visits to Physicians —► Lack of Care
Lack of Care —► Poor Performance (Avoidable Pain, Suffering and Deaths)The low number of physician visits is a dramatic lack of use of our excellent facilities and medical professionals. That lack of care results in avoidable pain, suffering and deaths: our poor performance.
Conclusion: The root cause is the complexity.
Solution: Improved Medicare for All
Improved Medicare for All eliminates bureaucracy (complexity) and achieves the needed simplicity in how we pay for health care. We will eliminate the root cause (complexity) of our 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. We can follow the Steps to Success 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).
Complexity
It may be impossible to draw degree of complexity of how the U.S. pays for health care. The flow charts below are simply some attempts to draw it. The complexity involves too many government programs when we don’t need any, because 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 that much government. 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 much more of their time on health care. The complexity … (goes on and on and on).
High Level Flow Charts:
Complexity of the New Law of March 2010
and Simplicity of Improved Medicare for All
Detailed Flow Chart:
Complexity of the New Law of March 2010
The U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, Republican staff, created a flow chart, seen here:
Complexity (above) —► High Cost
High Cost (above) —► Low Number of
Visits to Physicians
Low Visits to Physicians (above)
—► Lack of Care
Lack of Care —► Poor Performance (Avoidable Pain, Suffering and Deaths)
UNNECESSARY AMERICAN DEATH EVERY 5 MINUTES DUE TO PREVENTABLE DISEASES
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.”
Other Sources
High Level flow chart (pdf) of the Complexity by Bob Haiducek with the help of the Review Team.
Detailed flow chart. The detailed flow chart created by the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, Republican staff was obtained at their website under “America’s New Health Care System Revealed”. See the Committee News dated August 2, 2010.
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