New Study Shows Americans Get Double Whammy

A new study of over 7,000 patients in six countries shows that people in the United States receive the highest rate of medical errors in the world.

An article published in today's American Chronicle describes a situation where, not only do we pay more than people in other countries, our system delivers significantly more errors per patient than those of other developed nations.

Among the disappointing findings: about 34% of Americans reported some kind of medical error; nearly half say they either do not seek medical care when sick, do not get prescriptions filled or get prescribed treatements because of the costs; the corresponding figure for the U.K. is 13%. Nearly one third of Americans still spend over one thousand dollars per year on out-of-pocket expenses; in the U.K., two-thirds of patients reported no out-of-pocket expenses.