Daily Mail Reporter: What's Killing America?

A new survey on health care is revealing, that you may not be getting what you pay for, if you check into a US hospital. The US healthcare system is more effective at delivering high costs than quality care than other developed nations, according to the study conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and development, or OECD. It found first-rate treatment for cancer, but insufficient primary care for other ailments. The study said Americans pay more than $7,900 per person for healthcare each year, far more than any other OECD country, but still die earlier than their peers in the industrialized world. The cost of healthcare in the United States is 62 percent higher than that in Switzerland, which has similar per capita income, and also relies substantially on private health insurance. Meanwhile, Americans receive comparatively little actual care, despite sky-high prices driven by extensive tests and procedures. They also spend more tax money on healthcare than most other countries, the study showed. An 'underdeveloped' US primary care system is plagued by shortages of family doctors and high rates of avoidable hospital admissions for people with asthma, lung disease, diabetes, hypertension and other common illnesses. The growth in US life expectancy over the past half century is also below average, gaining only 8.3 years since 1960, compared with an 11.2-year OECD average.