New study confirms US health care accessibility trails other nations

The Commonwealth Fund has released an 11-country survey focusing on health care access, cost, and insurance coverage that finds that adults in the US are by far the most likely of the industrial nations surveyed to go without care because of costs, have trouble paying medical bills, encounter high medical bills when insured, or have disputes with insurers or payments denied.

You can access the study here. So far US coverage of the study has been a little spotty. On the other hand, it's hardly news at this point that we pay more and get less health care than citizens of many other nations.

But it's not bad news for everyone--health insurance industry profits are up 41%, prompting outgoing Ways and Means subcommittee chair Rep. Pete Stark to call for the health insurance companies to return the profits to their costumers by reducing the cost of premiums.

Meanwhile, the US's drop to 49th among nations in life expectancy, down from 24th in 1999, also has received scant coverage in the US media.