Healthcare is broken everywhere. There is too much govt interference in all of these markets.

United Kingdom

Fox – Experts are warning of a growing health care crisis in England, as millions of U.K. residents are waiting for medical attention.

As of July 2024, 7.62 million patients were on the waiting list for care, with 6.39 million in need of specific medical treatment, according to the latest Referral to Treatment (RTT) data from the National Health Service) (NHS), England’s publicly funded health care system.

The average wait time for treatment is 14 weeks, but more than three million patients have been waiting for over 18 weeks — and it’s been more than a year for nearly 300,000 of them.

The hill – An incredible 14,000 people died just last year while waiting for care in England’s emergency rooms.

Source – Total current healthcare expenditure in the UK in 2021 was £280.7 billion, equating to £4,188 per person.

Statista – Healthcare spending in the United Kingdom has gradually increased since 2000 when it amounted to £78.5 billion.

United States of America

AJMC – Health care prices have risen more rapidly than overall consumer prices, significantly outpacing overall economic development. Rising health care prices create significant financial challenges for individuals and employers, leading to wage stagnation, rising debt, more inequity, and strained government budgets.

CBS – Americans spend more money on health care on a per capita basis than people in any other developed nation, yet almost half say they’ve struggled recently to pay for medical treatment or prescription drugs, according to a new study from Gallup and West Health.

About 45% of those polled by the organizations said they’d recently had to skip treatment or medicine either because of cost or lack of easy access. Of those, about 8% said they also wouldn’t have access to affordable care if they required it today, a group that Gallup and West Health termed “cost desperate.”

NBC – The U.S. ranks as the worst performer among 10 developed nations in critical areas of health care, including preventing deaths, access (mainly because of high cost) and guaranteeing quality treatment for everyone, regardless of gender, income or geographic location, according to the report, published Thursday by The Commonwealth Fund, an independent research group.

Based on the new findings, people in the U.S. die the youngest and experience the most avoidable deaths, even though the country spends nearly twice as much — about 18% of gross domestic product — on health care than any other nation ranked.

Bloomberg – Even as Americans live longer, they spend more of their years in poor health than any other country, a new study shows.

People in the US live with illness for 12.4 years on average – up from 10.9 years in 2000, according to a study published by the American Medical Association Wednesday.

Statista – In 2023, single coverage health insurance for employees cost more than 8,000 U.S. dollars for the year. this figure has increase every year since 2000, with the average annual cost of health insurance for singles being 2,471 in 2000.

Forbes – UnitedHealth Group reported $22 billion in 2023 profits including $5.5 billion in the fourth quarter as its portfolio of health insurance and provider services grew by double-digit percentages.

For context some have estimated that you could end world hunger for around $25 Billion.

Forbes – In 2022 alone, the six largest health insurers collectively earned $41 billion in profits, according to Becker’s Healthcare.

With so many companies, effective regulation is difficult and costly, despite documented reports of false advertising, deceptive marketing and fraudulent sales practices. Private insurance plans also carry an average administrative overhead of 12.4%, compared to just 2.2% in traditional Medicare.

Canada

Source – Seven in ten Canadians (74%) say that health care in their province is currently in crisis. Alarmingly, over one third of Canadians (40%) report that they or family members have avoided going to emergency at a hospital due to stories and concerns about very long waits to be seen by anyone.

National Post – Canadians waited longer than ever for medical treatment in 2024, says the Fraser Institute.

The 30-week wait is the longest ever recorded by the Institute — longer than the 27.7 weeks in 2023, 20.9 weeks in pre-pandemic 2019, and 222 per cent longer than the 9.3 weeks in 1993, when it began tracking wait times.

CMA – Canada’s total health spending was expected to reach $344 billion in 2023, or $8,740 per Canadian. That’s about 12.1% of our GDP, making Canada a top spender among OECD countries.

Global News – The Canadian Institute for Health Information says health-care spending in Canada is projected to reach a new high in 2024.

The annual report released Thursday says total health spending is expected to hit $372 billion, or $9,054 per Canadian.

CIHI’s national analysis predicts expenditures will rise by 5.7 per cent in 2024, compared to 4.5 per cent in 2023 and 1.7 per cent in 2022.

CIHI – In current dollars, health spending reached around $100 billion in 2000 and around $200 billion in 2011.

CBC – Woman waits 6 years for knee replacement. Gets surgery but has complication. Has to wait 8 days for follow-up procedure because there are no beds.
Because of delay, she now needs amputation.

National Post – Montreal man, 39, dies from aneurysm after giving up on six-hour wait at ER.

CBC – Studies show Medically assisted deaths (MAiD) saves the Canadian healthcare system up to $130+ million every year.

Source – Dan Quayle marked his 52nd birthday on Oct. 7 in Victoria General Hospital waiting to find out when chemotherapy would start for an aggressive form of esophageal cancer.

After 10 weeks in hospital, Quayle, a gregarious grandfather who put on his best silly act for his two grandkids, was in so much pain, unable to eat or walk, he opted for a medically assisted death on Nov. 24 — despite assurances from doctors that chemotherapy had the potential to prolong his life by a year.

His family prayed he would change his mind or get an 11th-hour call that the chemo had been scheduled, said his step-daughter Shayleen Griffiths, whose mother, Kathleen Carmichael, had been with Quayle for 16 years.

As the weeks dragged on in hospital, Carmichael kept pressing for answers on when chemo would be scheduled.

“There was never a timeline on that,” said Griffiths, who lives in Victoria. “Their exact words were: ‘We’re backlogged.’”