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7 The Role of Health Care
Pages 96-111

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From page 96...
... It is sometimes argued that European health care systems have a stronger focus on primary care as compared with a greater emphasis on specialist care in the United States. Evidence on this matter is mixed.
From page 97...
... Efforts to identify early stages of a disease, for example, through screening, is sometimes called "secondary prevention" and is a principal responsibility of the medical system. ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE Access to health care in the United States is limited by the availability of health insurance, with 16.7 percent of the resident population lacking coverage (DeNavas-Walt et al., 2010)
From page 98...
... d Practicing MDs, 2006 2.4 2.1 3.4 3.8 2.5 2.1 2.0 (per 1,000) a Acute hospital beds (per 2.7 2.8 3.7 6.4 3.1 2.3 8.2 10,000)
From page 99...
... Prescription drugs, 2005 100 146 171 85 94 56 (grams per capita relative to U.S.
From page 100...
... EFFICIENCY AND COST OF CARE The United States spends 16 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on health care, a higher figure than for any other country.
From page 101...
... health care system compares with those of other countries in detecting and treating specific diseases and conditions. International Comparisons of Detection and Treatment of Cancer The United States compares well with other countries on both identifying and treating cancer (Preston and Ho, 2010)
From page 102...
... During the late 1980s, 5-year survival rates in the United States were higher than those in all of the 18 European countries surveyed for each of the major cancers: lung, breast, prostate, colon, and rectal (Gatta et al., 2000)
From page 103...
... Randomized trials of radiation and surgical removal for prostate cancer demonstrate their survival benefits relative to "watchful waiting," a particularly common strategy in Scandinavia. Treatment appears to be unusually aggressive in the United States once prostate cancer has been detected, although the data are less abundant on treatment than on screening (Preston and Ho, 2010)
From page 104...
... This means mortality trends cannot be interpreted unambiguously for this form of cancer in terms of health care practices. As noted above, the United States uses mammograms to screen for breast cancer more frequently than do European countries.
From page 105...
... As with prostate cancer, the U.S. health care system may have outperformed the health care systems of United States Average for 15 countries 24.0 22.0 Death Rate (per 100,000)
From page 106...
... The table shows that among those diagnosed with high cholesterol, a higher proportion of both males and females in the United States are treated for the condition than is the case in any of the other 11 countries listed, with the exception of older French women. Use of medication among TABLE 7-3 Percentage Taking Cholesterol-Lowering Medications Among Those Reporting They Have Been Diagnosed with High Cholesterol Ages 50+ Ages 65+ Country Males Females Males Females Austria 56.8 55.4 66.8 60.4 Belgium 53.3 60.1 64.1 68.0 Denmark 63.8 60.2 80.7 65.2 France 80.3 79.9 87.7 88.3 Germany 58.0 54.3 69.7 58.7 Greece 61.3 63.0 68.7 67.3 Italy 55.7 53.4 65.3 56.2 Netherlands 65.3 69.8 80.5 76.3 Spain 59.7 58.0 67.1 62.6 Sweden 59.7 58.5 67.6 68.0 Switzerland 64.2 62.3 74.6 70.2 United States 85.0 80.6 89.3 82.2 SOURCES: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)
From page 107...
... Wolf-Maier and colleagues (2004) used data from the 1990s to compare frequency of treatment for hypertension in the United States, Canada, and five European countries (Germany, Spain, England, Sweden, and Italy)
From page 108...
... Generally speaking, the United States does well on short-term survival rates. In one study comparing stroke survival rates among nine countries, the United States ranked third on 7-day survival rates for ages 65-74 and second for ages 75+; on 30-day survival rates, U.S.
From page 109...
... By contrast, diabetes may represent a weakness in the U.S. health care approach and is one of the causes of mortality that has shown adverse trends in the United States relative to other countries, although these trends may be influenced by the faster growth of obesity in the United States (see Chapter 3)
From page 110...
... health care expenditures are already substantially higher than those of the Netherlands and Denmark, increased spending or emphasis on health care at older ages in the United States would not necessarily result in an acceleration of life expectancy.
From page 111...
... The panel reviewed scattered evidence on preventive medicine in the United States relative to Europe, and it is not conclusive. Certainly the high prevalence of cardiovascular disease in the United States (see Chapter 2)


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