There has been a lot of discussion in recent months about whether expats are entitled to join the French health system, now largely resolved. But the question remained, is the French health system still as good as its reputation?
The Commonwealth Fund has released the results of a survey of health care in the leading industrialised countries, ranking them according to their ‘effectiveness at providing timely and effective healthcare’. They did this by looking at those people who died before the age of 75 and considering whether the deaths could have been prevented if treatment had been more efficiently applied.
The results are interesting.
The good news is, France came first! The health system might be shockingly expensive to support, but if you are planning on getting ill, France is the place to do it.
This is consistent with our own (very limited) experience. A couple of years after arriving in France Mrs B was told she needed an operation for something which UK doctors had said ‘We’ll keep an eye on it’ – perhaps NHS speech for ‘Our waiting lists are so long there’s no point adding you at the end, and in any case we get paid more for reducing the waiting lists’.
The French medics then asked when she wanted the operation. Not knowing what answer she should give, the surgeon prompted her…Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday…which day is good for you? These days were all for the following week! For an operation that the NHS had thought not worthy of being added to a list for, this was impressive speed!
Of course you can’t judge a health system by one experience. But the Commonwealth Fund has ranked the 19 countries included in the survey, and found that last (worst) was the United States, and second worst was the United Kingdom. Particular congratulations to the UK for spending enormous amounts of money over many years and achieving so little.
In case you are planning to survive until you are 75 years old, and hoping to emigrate first, the whole list from best to worst was: France, Japan, Australia, Spain, Italy, Canada, Norway, Netherlands, Sweden, Greece, Austria, Germany, Finland, New Zealand, Denmark, United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, United States.
Before you give me a hard time, I am sure there are other ways to measure a health system that would give different results. But to put the survey in perspective the researchers concluded that if the USA has performed as well as the top-performing countries, there would have been more than 100,000 deaths avoided each year in that country. Which presumably means about 25,000 fewer deaths per year in the UK under the same criteria.
And that is a lot of people, and a lot of deaths.
Hello again,
It is a remarkable coincidence that, after France and Japan, the remaining countries are in alphabetical order. Perhaps we should all move to Andorra, which is fairly convenient, to be ill!
Bye again!
Great spot, Tony. I rechecked and the news source which supplied the information was wrong!
The commonwealth fund site itself showed the correct order so I’ve corrected it above.
Let’s the UK off the hook a little bit as well as avoiding the need to move to Afghanistan.
Cheers!
Still, French health system is the best on the world…
All the pros that are describe here are true.
I’m a French guy, student in informatic at university of Lille, graduated by the technologic university degree of Reims, so well, as an inhabitant for 21 years, i know something about it.
I would not lie about our health system just for a patriotic defense of our nation.
I just see the movie-documentary “Sicko” by your great filmmaker Mickael Moore. I’m really choking by how you (american and american inhabitant) are treated !!
How did you support to pay so incredible amount of money, for even so common operation that can be treated at least in one week (or so with us in France) ?!
Don’t let industrial stole your money and play with you health, that’s…disgusting,inhuman. Citizen’s life is NOT an “industry”, not a system to make money and freaking billionaire boss of health insurance business.
I sympathize for what the common american, you, and your family in term of health care must bear. :-/
I’m with you guys to this unfairness.
Cheers !
Rémy
Thanks for that Rémy – just a note, I’m not American, I’m English!
I don’t know where you got the information from, but this is incorrect. The last list I was France in tenth place and in the UK in eleventh. Scandanavian countries usually compare much better than France/UK and the same goes for education too.
I would check your facts if I was you!
Stephen, the original report from the commonwealth fund can be seen at http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/News/News-Releases/2008/Jan/New-Study–U-S–Ranks-Last-Among-Other-Industrialized-Nations-on-Preventable-Deaths.aspx
Actaully Boris, I owe you an apology. I think the WHO rates France’s Health Service No. 1. I saw another survey by the Euro Health Consumer Index which placed France tenth.
I think the NHS health service gets a lot of unfair criticism though. My wife had a baby last year and the level of service and support was excellent. I think the health service has changed much for the better during Labour’s spell in power.
When I was looking for that Commonwealth Fund report I noticed that the original ‘which is the best health system in the world’ review, carried out by the World Health Organisation and very often quoted because it rates France 1st, dates from 2000 – and they say they won’t be doing it again because it’s too complicated. I wonder how much longer people can refer to a 10 year old report as being factual and accurate?
I researched health systems for many a year, I favour Italy’s system…ranked 2nd by Wyatt/Watson 2000. Why7
Highest doctor to patient ratio.
Most importantly doctors are rewarded (indirectly) for the good health of their patients. Why? Annual fee per patient.
Here in Canada and the USA, doctors are paid a fee per visit or service. A payment system that rewards repeat visits, referrals, testing, treating symptoms…
The devil lies in the details….
Caesar J. B. Squitti
L.U.: H. B. Commerece
Hi Caesar, we only have one experience of the health system in Italy – many years ago when my daughter was 2 years old she had a nasty fall in Italy and we had to go to the local casualty department. We thought we were in the wrong place – there was no queue at all and we got sent straight in to see a doctor who was extremely efficient and thorough. Coming from the UK that was a remarkable thing! No idea how typical that is but I’ve been a big fan of the Italian health system ever since.
Please don’t base your opinion of the United State’s health care on the stupid, obese, loud Michael Moore’s movie Sicko. Remember, he makes money by sensationalism. The French health care system has bankrupted their country. Is that what the U.S wants also? To add to our horrendous national debt? Look how great a job the government has done when they got involved in the educational system! When Mr. Moore has a giant heart attack, he won’t be waiting in line like the rest of us if we get national health care, because he has made millions by mocking those whose very services he will need the most! He will be able to buy whatever health care he needs at whatever cost it is. So will Mr. Obama. So fair? No. The truth? Yes.
And the American health system is about to bankrupt the US. People who do not pay for their health insurance coverage have no clue. The so-called horror stories you hear about government heath systems pale in comparison to the horror stories that the US system creates. Standing in lines (which by all accounts is not true anyway) would be far preferable to not getting cverage at all, which happens to no one in France, ever. Happens every day here. I’ll take life in line over death in bankruptcy. The insurance lobby is trying to pull the wool over our eyes. I would LOVE to get insurance bureaucrats away from my health care, but there is little chance of that happening with all the fearmongering they and their Republican contractors are sponsoring. As long as insurance companies remain in charge, we can expect to continue sliding toward bankruptcy.
Look into the history and political influences of the American Medical Association. You’ll see the crux of the U.S.’s problems. THE biggest and most powerful lobbyist group in Washington.