A Canadian report released on Monday found that Canada surpasses the United States in terms of health outcomes, but is still trailing far behind global leaders like Japan in overall health of its population.
A yearly health report card by the Conference Board of Canada put Canada in 10th place out of 16 developed countries, giving it a “B” for a grade.
The United States was all the way at the end, coming in 16th place and earning a “D” grade, Reuters reported.
“Canada has been at the center of much of the debate on U.S. health care reform. Since Canada ranks ahead of the United States on all but one indicator of health status … it is clear that we are getting better results,” Gabriela Prada, director of health policy at the Conference Board, said in a statement.
“But when we look beyond the narrow Canada-U.S. comparison to the rest of the world, Canadians rank in the middle of the pack in terms of their health status,” Prada said.
The report card was primarily based on data from 2006, the group said.
President Barack Obama has made it his top domestic priority to reform the country’s healthcare system, which is currently far too costly and excludes millions of Americans from coverage. Canada’s single-payer government-run health care system is often a point of controversy among U.S. critics.
Having issued the report card every year since 1996, the Conference Board ranked the 16 countries according to 11 criteria, including life expectancy, mortality due to cancer, circulatory and respiratory diseases, mental disorders, as well as infant mortality and self-reported health status.
Japan was still the highest-ranking country. Switzerland, Italy, and Norway also earned “A” grades.
Sweden, France, Finland, Germany, Australia and Canada received a “B” , while Netherlands, Austria and Ireland got a “C” grade, the report showed.
The United States was not the only country to do poorly. Denmark and the United Kingdom joined with them in getting “D” grades.
When it came to self-reported health status, Canada and the United States both earned “A” grades. They rank first and second, among the 16 countries.
The United States lagged behind Canada on all of the mortality measures save mortality due to cancer, where they both earned a “B” grade.
According to the Conference Board, top-performing countries had better health outcomes on broad actions such as environmental stewardship and health promotion programs with a strong emphasis on lifestyle change, education, early childhood development, and income to improve health outcomes.
Rank Country Grade
1 Japan A
2 Switzerland A
3 Italy A
4 Norway A
5 Sweden B
6 France B
7 Finland B
8 Germany B
9 Australia B
10 Canada B
11 Netherlands C
12 Austria C
13 Ireland C
14 United Kingdom D
15 Denmark D
16 United States D
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