US Health Care Cost Rise, While Other OECDs Flat

An Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development report notes that most countries have slowed the growth of health care costs in the past decade, but the 36% US spending increase in the period from 1982 to 1992 remained the same as in the previous decade.

It also notes that US health expenditure of 14% of Gross Domestic Product is far more than that of any other nation. The OECD compared health expenditures and changes in the medical systems of 17 countries.

Health expenditures as a percentage of GDP fell in Denmark and Sweden between 1982 and 1992, while the growth rate slowed in Austria, Australia, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Portugal. Those figures increased more rapidly in Canada, Finland, Iceland and Norway, and there were no comparison figures given for Switzerland and Turkey. About three-quarter of health expenditures are paid for from public sources in most OECD countries, however, in the USA, the government pays for only 46% of the total health care bill.