Editorial: This could hurt a little bit

Sunday, Nov. 6, 2005 | 8:05 a.m.

Results of a survey of 7,000 sick adults in six Western nations, including the United States, show Americans pay more than citizens of the other countries for medical treatment that is more often error-prone and disorganized.

A third of U.S. patients reported they had received the wrong dose or type of medication or had received inaccurate or delayed laboratory test results, according to the study that was conducted by Harris Interactive and commissioned by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonpartisan foundation that supports independent research on health and social policy issues.

Patients in Germany, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom were surveyed the past spring along with those in the United States. The study examined safety, health care coordination, chronic disease care and access to health care.

While patients in all six countries "reported safety risks, poor care coordination and inadequate chronic care treatment, with no country deemed best or worst overall, the United States stood out for high error rates, inefficient coordination of care and high out-of-pocket costs resulting in forgone care," the report says.

When it came to errors in medications or lab results, Canada was second with 30 percent of patients reporting such missteps. United Kingdom patients reported the fewest such mistakes -- roughly 22 percent.

But when the issue was access to, or the cost of, medical care, Americans fared the worst by larger margins. Half of the U.S. adults surveyed said they did not always see a doctor when they were sick, did not get the recommended treatment or did not fill a prescription because of the costs. A third of them had paid more than $1,000 for medical care in the past year.

In comparison, 13 percent of United Kingdom patients reported failing to get care because of the cost, and two-thirds paid nothing out-of-pocket.

Health care delivery systems vary greatly among the countries compared in this study, some of which have socialized care. We certainly are not advocating such a system for Americans.

But U.S. Census figures show that 15.7 percent of Americans -- and 19 percent of Nevadans -- lack health insurance and likely do not receive even a fraction of the less-expensive preventive care and medical screenings that would improve their chances of avoiding more costly and complicated treatments later.

Americans enjoy one of the world's highest standards of living, but there is always room for improvement. When it comes to health care planning and policy, exploring what the neighbors are doing right might not hurt.