Common concerns amid diverse systems: health care experiences in five countries

Abstract

This article reports on a comparative survey of sicker adults in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The study finds that despite differences among the health care systems, large proportions of citizens across the five countries report dissatisfaction with their health care system and serious problems including medical and medication errors, faulty patient-physician communication, and poor care coordination. The most crucial policy implication of these findings is that a focus on a small population of intensive health system users could have the potential to both control costs and improve care.