Report gives U.S. low healthcare marks

WASHINGTON According to a new report from the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund, the U.S. fails on most measures of health care quality including waiting times to see doctors and lack of preventive care, as reported by Reuters.

The Commonwealth Fund created a 100-point scorecard using 37 indicators such as health outcomes, quality, access and efficiency. It compared the United States’ average on these to the best performing states, counties or hospitals, and to other countries. The United States scored 65—two points lower than in 2006.

Some of the figures that led to the ranking were:

• While 98 percent of doctors in the Netherlands and 89 percent in Britain use electronic medical records, only 28 percent do in the United States.• Some 47 million Americans have no health insurance.• Another 28 million are underinsured.