Which is Better? An Economic Comparison of Health Care in France, the U.K., and the U.S.

This course is designed as an introduction to the health care systems of the U.S., the U.K., and France. In 2010, the WHO carried out the first ever analysis of the world's health systems and found that France provided the best overall health care. The U.K. was ranked #18 and the U.S. at #37. This couples with the U.S. spending 17.2% of its GDP in 2016 on health expenditures despite not having particularly good health outcomes (e.g., 38.2% obesity rate, 2015). By comparison, France only spends 11% of its GDP on health expenditures and has an obesity rate of 19.5%. The New York Times recently published a series of articles attempting to understand why the U.S. spends so much more than other (developed) countries and did not note and differences in utilization rates, for example, and instead explained the phenomena by referencing Uwe Reinhardt's famous 2003 paper entitled, "It's the Prices Stupid." In 2011, the BBC was happy to report the better health the English enjoyed relative to the Americans despite similar demographics (and worse weather and food!). This course will introduce students to these three representative health care systems and will seek to understand the disconnect between health care outcomes and spending. The 2010 Affordable Care Act essentially preserved the privatized nature of health care in the U.S. despite nearly every other (developed) country in the world having universal coverage.