People are unhappy with rising healthcare costs and decreased access around the world: survey

Over the past century, we’ve made staggering advances in medical treatments. Yet, according to a report from ZS, a management and consulting firm, consumers across the globe are increasingly unhappy with their healthcare. ZS surveyed 12,000 healthcare consumers and 1,500 providers in the United States, Brazil, the U.K., Germany, India, China, and Japan.

Here are some of the top findings:

Costs are rising as access drops

Two-thirds of respondents across the globe said healthcare is becoming less accessible.

• About 80% of consumers and healthcare practitioners said healthcare was less accessible in the U.K., the highest in any country.
• Incidentally, in the U.K., the share of cancer patients who are able to start treatment within two months has dropped from 85% to 65%.
• Meanwhile, 88% of consumers in the United States, 90% in Brazil, and 85% in Germany say costs have gone up.
• In every country except the U.K. women were more likely to say healthcare is getting less accessible and less affordable.

Consumers’ needs are not being met

On average, only 34% of survey respondents across the globe said they felt cared for after their most recent doctor’s appointment. Two-thirds of respondents said that healthcare is getting worse, including 85% of respondents in Germany, which has universal healthcare.

Doctors’ workloads are getting heavier

According to the World Health Organization, there’s currently a global shortage of two million doctors.

• In the U.K., for primary care physicians who saw over 100 patients each, work increased from 34% to 42%.
• In Germany, from 71% to 79%.
• In Japan, from 44% to 60%.
• In China, from 49% to 65%.

This is projected to get worse as countries such as the United States and Japan will see their share of older people increase over the coming decades.

“[C]onsumers expect more from healthcare at a moment when healthcare systems are least prepared to give it to them,” the report’s authors wrote. “To avoid widening the gap between what people want and what they get, stakeholders from across healthcare will need to collaborate to make new forms of care possible.”