Portugal spends much less than the US on health care for its citizens, but it focuses on primary care. So, when it comes to health, the Portuguese live longer and fare better than Americans, reports Usha Lee McFarling for Stat News.
The Portuguese health care system is not modern. You won’t see fancy hospitals with marble atria. But, the data show that the Portuguese on average live four years longer than people in the US. And, the country spends 80 percent less on health care per person than we do. Yep. It spends 20 percent of what we spend on health care per person with far superior health outcomes.
The 2021 Global Security Index looks at a country’s ability to respond to a pandemic and provide its citizens access to affordable care. Portugal was at the very top of the list of 195 countries, ranking third. The United States was at the very bottom, ranking 183rd.
Portugal’s national health care system gives every resident free or low-cost health care. Access to health care is not based on ability to pay. Everyone is guaranteed access, though there is a shortage of primary care doctors, as in the US, and people need to wait to get needed care.
A million Portuguese do not have a designated primary care physician, but they are cared for. Portugal has primary care neighborhood clinics and regional public health systems. It can track sickness as well as where people are not getting health care. New medical treatments are not always available, but the focus on prevention and primary care is keeping the people healthy at low cost.
The Portuguese health care system uses data to monitor the population individually and collectively. The government also engages in “social prescribing,” using home visits to learn about patients’ social issues that can undermine their health and finding community resources to assist them.
In 2022, the US spent $4.5 trillion on health care or $13,500 a person. But, the US ranks 60th relative to other countries on life expectancy. Our average, life expectancy in the US is 78.5 years, on a par with Turkey and Ecuador, not other similarly wealthy nations. In Switzerland and Japan, life expectancy averages 84 years. Portugal spends about $2,700 a person on health care, and life expectancy averages 82.3 years.
The US might innovate on the health front, but its health care system is dysfunctional. Portugal, Costa Rica and Thailand get better results through their investments in primary care and community health.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- US ranks at bottom of pack of wealthy nations on health of older adults and affordability of care
- US health care system ranks dead last among 10 of the world’s richest countries
- How other wealthy countries deliver superior health care coverage to the US
- GAO finds US drug prices more than four times those in France
- Nearly three in 10 Americans opt to forgo medical care because of the cost
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