The U.S. excels in some aspects of older adult care but falls short in others, according to a Commonwealth Fund survey published April 9.
The survey, conducted in 2024, involved 16,737 adults 65 and older in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S. A total of 1,882 U.S. respondents were included — all of whom had some form of Medicare coverage.
In its survey, the Commonwealth Fund found most U.S. respondents reported they were satisfied with their care, and they were among the most likely in the survey to report that their hospital helped them prepare for discharge. However, the foundation notes: “There are challenges. Only about half of U.S. older adults said it’s easy to get off-hours care compared to 3 of 4 older adults in the Netherlands. And 1 of 5 respondents in the U.S. — as well as across all the countries surveyed — said they were treated unfairly or dismissively in their health system encounters.”
Here are five takeaways from the foundation’s survey, which can be accessed in full here:
1. Older adults in the U.S. who needed off-hours care reported access levels that were on par with — and in some cases higher than — those in nearly all other countries. The exception was the Netherlands, where 74% of older adults who needed this care had access to it.
2. Nearly 3 in 5 older adults in the U.S. reported their regular physician often helps coordinate the care they receive from other physicians or practices. Older adults in Australia were most likely to report this compared to other countries.
3. Older adults in the U.S. were among the most likely to report their hospital coordinated care with their regular physician when discharged; older adults in Sweden and Germany were least likely to report this.
4. Across all countries, most survey respondents were satisfied with the quality of their healthcare. Older adults in the U.S. were most likely to report their healthcare professional reviewed their medications with them over the period of a year.
5. Roughly 1 in 5 older adults in the U.S. reported they felt they were treated unfairly or that their concerns were dismissed while receiving care.
