Health Affairs

In a recent Health Affairs paper, we documented that the United States has a significant survival advantage over much of Europe when it comes to cancer: 1.8 years for those diagnosed during our study window.  Furthermore, we showed over a 17-year period that this gap had widened, not narrowed, and that this widening was more... Read the rest of this entry »

Research appearing in the newly released September issue of Health Affairs shows that physicians in the United States are paid more per service than doctors in other countries—in some cases double. There is also a far bigger gap between fees paid for primary care and fees paid for specialty care in the United States, compared... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s Note: This is the second part of a two-part post discussing behavioral economics and how it is being used by British policymakers. Part 1 focused mostly on the development and general principles of behavioral economics. Part 2 below discusses some of the ways British policymakers are seeking to use insights from behavioral economics. Behavioural... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part post discussing behavioral economics and how it is being used by British policymakers. Part 1 below focuses mostly on the development and general principles of behavioral economics. Part 2, which discusses some of the ways British policymakers are seeking to use insights from behavioral economics, will... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s Note: This week, senior health policy experts and emerging health care leaders from around the world have gathered in Salzburg, Austria, to discuss how different health care systems are seeking to control costs and improve care. Health Affairs Deputy Editor Parmeeth Atwal is attending the conference as a Knight Fellow and will provide periodic blog posts on the proceedings.... Read the rest of this entry »

It is widely known that Americans spend more on health care per capita than many wealthier nations. It is also known that fewer of us are living as long as our international counterparts.  A recent study, authored by Peter Muennig and Sherry Glied and funded by the Commonwealth Fund, shines a new light on this situation. ... Read the rest of this entry »

Switzerland has been “rediscovered” as a source of inspiration for the American health care system – which is somewhat ironic, since, as former Swiss health minister Thomas Zeltner tells Tsung-Mei Cheng in an August 2010 Health Affairs interview, Switzerland’s model of “managed competition” among private health insurance plans is rooted in the work of longtime Health Affairs contributor Allan... Read the rest of this entry »

The August issue of Health Affairs is titled “Lessons From Around The World.” One of the countries examined is Spain. In her editor’s note, Health Affairs Editor-in-Chief Susan Dentzer writes that Spain emerged from the Franco dictatorship in 1975 socially and economically behind much of the rest of Europe. But the demise of the old... Read the rest of this entry »

In many countries, primary care clinicians serve as the foundation for health care and the “gatekeepers” for more specialized referrals. A new international survey of primary care physicians in eleven countries finds that American doctors are significantly behind many of their counterparts elsewhere in providing access to high-quality care and use of health information technology,... Read the rest of this entry »

Over the summer, Health Affairs Blog posts on the Medicare Advantage debate in Congress claimed top spots on the most-read list for July and August. A late August post by Henry Aaron looked at how Obama and McCain would cover the uninsured. Another late August post by Len Nichols on calculating the cost of covering... Read the rest of this entry »

The Netherlands, which combines mandatory universal health insurance with competition among private health insurers, has been frequently cited as a possible model for reform in the United States. You can read Wynand van de Ven and Frederik Schut’s examination of the Dutch experience (free access until May 27) in the May/June issue of Health Affairs, a thematic... Read the rest of this entry »

In interviews with Health Affairs, government ministers in Germany and the Netherlands talk up market-oriented refinements to their universal health insurance systems for the future. But the news from Europe isn’t all happy: an unsettling survey in the United Kingdom finds that some physicians believe that the market will unravel the government-owned and -operated National... Read the rest of this entry »

Comparing health systems, the growth of U.S. health spending, and proposals to fix Medicare physician payment topped the January-February 2008 most-read list for the Health Affairs Blog. Sign up for email or RSS feed alerts to stay on top of new postings. Additional commenting always welcome. U.S. Worst At Beating Death From Treatable Illness by... Read the rest of this entry »

Does the fact that The Diving Bell and The Butterfly won the Golden Globe award for the best foreign movie tell us anything about French health care? Or does it tell us more about movies about health care, the artistic French vs. “The Ugly American”? For the upcoming Academy Awards, Michael Moore’s health care movie,... Read the rest of this entry »

In a comparison of 18 countries, the United States ranked at the bottom for number of deaths that could have been prevented by timely and effective health care. Not only were U.S. rates among the worst, the rate of improvement from 1997-98 to 2002-03 was the smallest.

Editor’s Note: This post was written by the 2007-08 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellows. The lead authors are Andreas Gerber and Rhema Vaithianathan. Additional authors include Kalipso Chalkidou, Richard Gleave, Peter Hockey, Geraint Lewis, Ruth McDonald, Neil MacKinnon, Peter McNair, Claudia Sanmartin, and Stephanie Stock. While policymakers in the U.S. have long recognized the benefits of looking overseas... Read the rest of this entry »

The rising prevalence of obesity is said to be threatening to drown the health care system under a wave of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. So some policymakers have suggested taxing foods high in saturated fats as a way to steer consumers clear of snacks that are bad for them and perhaps offset coming health care... Read the rest of this entry »

What role should the U.S. government play in confronting global health challenges? What are Congress’s priorities for the reauthorization of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and how much should be invested in research to help stem the AIDS pandemic? How can we protect 150 million people globally from suffering financial catastrophe each... Read the rest of this entry »

Whether it is ascertainable as fact or merely an impression, recent findings from the legendary Whitehall studies in the U.K. strongly suggest an interest in the quality of human relationships in society relative to health that is all but unimaginable in the United States. The New World is trying to get a grip on racial,... Read the rest of this entry »

Two kinds of American exceptionalism emerged from last week’s release of the Commonwealth Fund’s International Health Policy Survey, which focused on primary care and was published November 2 on the Health Affairs Web site.