The United States rations care based on ability to pay, creating severe health inequities. People with low incomes in the US are more likely to suffer from chronic conditions and struggle to access care than people in other wealthy nations. The Commonwealth Fund found income-related disparities are prevalent in nearly all 11 high-income countries it studied, but health disparities based on income are the worst in the US.
People with low incomes in the US suffered from greater income-related disparities than people in the other 10 countries. In the US, more than one in three people with low-incomes has at least two chronic conditions. Other advanced nations also indicate greater chronic conditions among people with low incomes.
That said, in the US, about one in three people with low incomes suffer from anxiety or depression, more than every other country except Australia and Canada. People in Germany and Switzerland were least likely to suffer from anxiety and depression. Fewer than one in six of them suffer from these conditions.
Disparities based on income in the US are evident in all key aspects of life. More than one in four (28 percent) people with low incomes worry about their ability to pay for housing, food and other fundamental needs. In other countries studied, between six and 22 percent reported these worries.
One in two people in the US with a lower income skip care, including visits to the doctor, tests, treatments and prescription drugs because of how much it costs. In other advanced nations such as Germany, Norway, the UK and France, around one in eight people with low incomes skip care because of how much it costs.
More than any other advanced nation, people in the US struggle to pay bills for their health care. More than one in three people with lower incomes in the US (36 percent) face difficulty. In other nations, between one in six and one in 14 face difficulty.
In the US, many adults with low incomes don’t have a primary care doctor or place to go to get their care. And, only about 40 percent of them are able to get care the day or day after they try to get it. In Germany and the Netherlands, more than 60 percent of people can get same day or next day care.
And, just 58 percent of people with low incomes in the US are able to get care after hours. Forty-five percent of Americans with low incomes go to the emergency room for needed care in cases in which they could have simply gone to the doctor’s office had they had access to a doctor.
Health care is a human right. Everyone regardless of income in the US, the wealthiest country in the world. should be able to go to the doctor and get the care they need without worry about the cost. Shouldn’t the US do at least as well by its citizens as New Zealand, Germany and Japan?
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