United States Adults' Health Care System Views and Experiences, 2001

The United States continues to lead the world in per- person spending on health care. Yet results from The Commonwealth Fund 2001 International Health Policy Survey indicate that the majority of U.S. adults believe the system requires fundamental reforms or needs to be completely rebuilt. The United States stands out in the five-nation survey—hich also included Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom—n most measures for cost-related barriers to health care and for pervasive and large income-related disparities in access and quality of care. U.S. adults with incomes below the national average were more likely to face access barriers to needed care than were their counterparts in the other four countries surveyed.

This data brief based on The Commonwealth Fund 2001 International Health Policy Survey focuses on the health system views and experiences of U.S. adults. Com- parative findings from the five-nation survey were re- ported in the May/June issue of Health Affairs. The data brief includes additional analysis of the survey that does not appear in the Health Affairs article.