Oz health #4 in world
June 19, 2014
THE Commonwealth Fund’s
report on 11 nations’ health care
systems has found Australia ranks
number four overall.
The report uses patients’ and
physicians’ survey results on care
experiences as well as information
from the World Health Organisation
and the Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development.
It found Australia was number
two when it came to quality care,
following the UK and ahead of
Switzerland and New Zealand at
four, while the UK came top in
overall ranking, with Switzerland
second and the US last.
For cost related access problems,
where Australia came ninth overall,
the report found 16% of people
did not fill a prescription, skipped
a recommended medical test,
treatment or follow-up, or had a
medical problem but did not visit a
doctor or clinic in the past year due
to cost.
For adults of below average
income, 14% reported they did not
fill a prescription or skipped doses
because of cost in the past year,
compared with 8% of those with
above average income.
For the former, Australia had a
lower percentage only than the
Netherlands (20%), New Zealand
(18%) and the US (30%).
AMA president associate
professor Brian Owler said the
report showed Australia had a
sustainable health system with
the lowest level of expenditure
on health as a percentage of GDP
across all the countries.
However, he said it showed that
the cost of accessing health care
was a significant issue.
To read the report, CLICK HERE.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 19 Jun 14To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 19 Jun 14
