Want medical care without quickly draining your fortune? Try Singapore or Hong Kong as your healthy havens. The U.S. will cost you the most for treatment, both in absolute terms and relative to average incomes, while life expectancy of Americans — about 79 years — was exceeded by more than 25 countries and territories, according to an annual Bloomberg analysis in almost 200 economies.
Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Israel took the top four spots in the Bloomberg countries of with the most efficient health care, The UK came in 14th, Canada 17th, Iran 45th, and the US 46th.
The London-based Legatum Institute, compared 104 variables and listed nine subindexes. The study examined three basic components of health: availability of preventive care, health infrastructure, and citizens’ physical and mental health. 149 countries were included in the comparison, with Israel included in the top ten. These ten were, in order:
1. Luxembourg One of the wealthiest nations, Luxembourg has a life expectancy of 82. Luxembourg came in first in the research’s health and personal freedom subindices, and second in their safety subindex.
2. Singapore came in first place for safety, and second for health. Its 5.6 million citizens have an average life expectancy of 83.1 years.
3. Switzerland With mandatory health insurance, Switzerland came in third in the study’s health subindex and first in the education subindex. However, the European country ranked eighth in safety and eighteenth in personal freedom.
4. Japan With the highest average life expectancy – 83.7 -years, it may not be a surprise that Japan’s health index ranked fourth highest. The Asian “Land of the Rising Sun” also came in third for safety.
5. Netherlands Though the Netherlands came in fifth for best health, they ranked second economic quality and education, and fourth in governance. However, in 2015 the Netherlands ranked at the top of the annual Euro health consumer index, which compares healthcare systems in Europe, scoring 916 of a maximum 1,000 points.
6. Sweden ranked sixth on the study’s health index and fifth on its governance index. With the fourth highest life expectancy in the world, the average Swedish man will live 80.7 years.
7. Hong Kong Ranking seventh in health and fourth in business environment, Hong Kong has 53 hospitals (42 public and 11 private) for its population of 7.2 million.
8. Australia Australia ranked second in personal freedom, fourth in education, seventh in business environment, and eight in health. With the best health ranking in the southern hemisphere, Australia’s life expectancy is 82.8, placing it as fourth highest globally.
9. Israel received the highest health rating in the Middle East, and its citizens have a life expectancy of 82.5 years – eighth highest in the world. The country’s single-payer, multiple-provider system ensures that every citizen receives health coverage, yet insurance providers must compete in order to draw clients and receive funding.
10. Germany ranked fifth in business environment, seventh in safety, ninth in social capital, and tenth in health care and governance. With an average life expectancy of 81, Germany’s citizens are some of the healthiest in the world.