Medical Care Facts and Figures

Column 2: According to 1998 U.S. statistics, the per capita health cost in the United States was the highest in the World, $4,094 per person in the country. The country of Switzerland was second, at $2,644, which was still 35.4% less than the United States, followed by Germany, at $2,365 (and 42.2% less than the United States).

Column 3: Prescription drug costs in the United States are the highest in the World. A 1999 study by House Democrats contained a comparison of prescription drugs costs for the United States and a number of foreign countries. For every dollar paid by an American for prescription drugs, a German paid 71 cents, a Frenchman 57 cents and so on, for exactly the same drugs in the same dosage amounts.

Column 4 - Health Value. On June 20th, 2000, the World Health Organization released a study evaluating the health systems in the countries of the World. The evaluation included a comprehensive assessment of medical treatment in the different countries, including such factors as the availability of medical insurance, the cost of prescription drugs and other factors. In this study, France was ranked as Number 1, Italy as Number 2, Spain and Austria as numbers 7 and 9, Japan and Norway as numbers 10 and 11. Due to the high cost of health insurance and prescription drugs in the United States, our country was ranked as Number 37.