US Healthcare Report Card Shows High Cost, Low Outcomes

The Story

A new report card from the Commonwealth Fund ranks the United States against 19 other wealthy countries, finding the US runs the most expensive healthcare system while achieving some of the worst results. The US spends 18% of its economy on healthcare, nearly double the average of comparable nations, and $12,649 per person, roughly ten times what Mexico spends. American life expectancy peaked at 79 years, more than two years below peers and third from the bottom. The report grades four areas: coverage, affordability, delivery of care, and equity; the US fails or nearly fails each one. The article, written by UCLA clinical professor Robert B Shpiner, also describes a separate global health failure, noting that USAID has dropped from about 10,000 staff to fewer than 300, the US has withdrawn from the World Health Organization, and a Lancet analysis projects aid cuts will cause 14 million additional deaths by 2030. An Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo strain is spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, with the WHO declaring an international emergency on 17 May. The administration disputes that its cuts hampered the Ebola response and points to emergency money it has since mobilized.

Key Facts

• The Commonwealth Fund published its 2026 report card on US healthcare this week, comparing the US to 19 other wealthy countries.
• The US spends 18% of its economy on healthcare, nearly twice the average of comparable nations, and $12,649 per person, roughly ten times what Mexico spends.
• American life expectancy peaked at 79 years, more than two years below peers and third from the bottom, above only Mexico and Turkey.
• The US rate of deaths that good care should have prevented is the second worst in the developed world; only Mexico does worse.
• 27 million Americans have no health coverage; the US and Mexico are the only countries studied that have never guaranteed coverage to everyone.
• The US has the fewest primary care doctors per capita; nearly a third of the country (100 million people) has no regular place to seek care.
• Black women die in childbirth in the US at a rate higher than the national rate of any other wealthy country measured.
• Americans who have a regular doctor rate that relationship among the best in the world.
• The US Agency for International Development has gone from about 10,000 staff to fewer than 300; the US has withdrawn from the World Health Organization.
• A Lancet analysis projects that the aid cuts alone will cause 14 million additional deaths by 2030, including 4.5 million children under five.
• An Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo strain is spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda; the WHO declared an international emergency on 17 May.
• The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention learned of the outbreak about a day before the rest of the world did.
• A hantavirus outbreak surfaced on a cruise ship, caused by the Andes strain; the health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, assured the public it was “under control”.
• The federal program built to investigate shipborne outbreaks had its full-time staff cut a year ago.
• Independent analysts project that recent and proposed federal changes will leave 17 million more Americans uninsured by 2034.
• The administration disputes that its cuts hampered the Ebola response, and points to emergency money it has since mobilized.

Conflicting Reports

The article states that the administration disputes that its cuts hampered the Ebola response, and points to emergency money it has since mobilized. No other conflicting accounts are described in the source.

Still Unclear

The article does not clarify whether the administration’s emergency funds for Ebola have been fully deployed or what specific actions have been taken to address the hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship.

Misconceptions

No widespread misconceptions addressed in the source article.

Key Figures

• Robert B Shpiner, clinical professor of medicine in pulmonary and critical care at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA (author of the article)
• Robert F Kennedy Jr, health secretary
• Commonwealth Fund (publisher of the report card)
• World Health Organization (WHO)
• US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• US Agency for International Development (USAID)
• Lancet (medical journal that published the projection)

Sources: The Guardian