Study looks at health systems
Source: Agencies |
November 5, 2010, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
OLDER Americans suffer more chronic disease than their English counterparts, but the English die earlier, according to a study that could revive debate about whose health system is better.
Researchers at the US-based RAND Corp and Britain's Institute for Fiscal Studies found that while Americans aged 55 and older have higher rates of chronic disease, they live longer than elderly people who get ill in England.
"If you get sick at older ages, you will die sooner in England than in the United States," said James Smith, an economist with RAND, who co-authored the study with James Banks and Alastair Muriel of the IFS.
"It appears that in terms of survival at older ages with chronic disease, the medical system in the US may be better than the system in England."
But that edge comes at a price.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development data show the US spends more on health care than any other nation, and Banks said spending on health care for the elderly in the US is almost double that in England.
In 2008, the latest year for which full OECD figures are available, the United States spent 16 percent of its national output or US$7,538 per person on health - well over double the US$3,000 per person average of all OECD countries.
British politicians leapt to defend the state-funded National Health System when it was attacked during the 2009 US presidential election campaign by Republicans who used criticism of the NHS - which they called a socialist system - to stoke opposition to Barack Obama's health care reforms.
Supporters of Obama's reforms argue too many people fall through the net and are without medical insurance. Once people in the US turn 65, however, they become eligible for Medicare, a government-run health insurance program for the elderly that gives nearly 40 million Americans access to high-quality medical care.
For the study, published in the journal Demography, researchers analyzed data from two surveys of people aged 50 and over - the US Health and Retirement Survey, a nationally representative sample than includes over 20,000 people - and the English Longitudinal Survey of Ageing, which contains data on around 12,000 respondents.
They looked at rates of key chronic diseases and at death rates among those aged 55 to 64 and aged 70 to 80. They also looked at the onset of new illnesses in these groups from 2002 to 2006.
For people in their 70s, diabetes rates were almost twice as high in the US as in England, at 17.2 percent versus 10.4 percent, and cancer rates were more than double, at 17.9 percent in the US and 7.8 percent in England.
Death rates among those 55 to 64 were similar in the US and Britain, showing that although the Americans had more disease they lived just as?long.
Researchers at the US-based RAND Corp and Britain's Institute for Fiscal Studies found that while Americans aged 55 and older have higher rates of chronic disease, they live longer than elderly people who get ill in England.
"If you get sick at older ages, you will die sooner in England than in the United States," said James Smith, an economist with RAND, who co-authored the study with James Banks and Alastair Muriel of the IFS.
"It appears that in terms of survival at older ages with chronic disease, the medical system in the US may be better than the system in England."
But that edge comes at a price.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development data show the US spends more on health care than any other nation, and Banks said spending on health care for the elderly in the US is almost double that in England.
In 2008, the latest year for which full OECD figures are available, the United States spent 16 percent of its national output or US$7,538 per person on health - well over double the US$3,000 per person average of all OECD countries.
British politicians leapt to defend the state-funded National Health System when it was attacked during the 2009 US presidential election campaign by Republicans who used criticism of the NHS - which they called a socialist system - to stoke opposition to Barack Obama's health care reforms.
Supporters of Obama's reforms argue too many people fall through the net and are without medical insurance. Once people in the US turn 65, however, they become eligible for Medicare, a government-run health insurance program for the elderly that gives nearly 40 million Americans access to high-quality medical care.
For the study, published in the journal Demography, researchers analyzed data from two surveys of people aged 50 and over - the US Health and Retirement Survey, a nationally representative sample than includes over 20,000 people - and the English Longitudinal Survey of Ageing, which contains data on around 12,000 respondents.
They looked at rates of key chronic diseases and at death rates among those aged 55 to 64 and aged 70 to 80. They also looked at the onset of new illnesses in these groups from 2002 to 2006.
For people in their 70s, diabetes rates were almost twice as high in the US as in England, at 17.2 percent versus 10.4 percent, and cancer rates were more than double, at 17.9 percent in the US and 7.8 percent in England.
Death rates among those 55 to 64 were similar in the US and Britain, showing that although the Americans had more disease they lived just as?long.
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