French health care system most admired, says European survey

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — More than a quarter of Europeans surveyed said they feel positively about the French health care system, according to the polling firm Harris Interactive Europe. Survey respondents from the five largest European countries reported varying levels of positive feelings for their own country’s health care system, ranging from a low of 21% among Italians up to 65% among the French.

The Harris group asked people in Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain to rate their perceptions of their own countries’ health care systems and those of other countries.

The online survey generated responses from 2,339 people over age 16 in Great Britain, 2,018 in France, 2,078 in Germany, 2,120 in Italy and 1,382 in Spain. Portions of the survey results were described in a press release from Harris Interactive.

Of the respondents, 65% of the French said they felt positively about their healthcare system. This was the highest rating among the five countries, compared with 21% in Italy, 28% in Germany, 32% in Great Britain and 42% in Spain.

In the rating other countries’ health care systems, France was seen as favorable by 28% of all respondents. The Harris press release pointed out that this partly reflected the very high level of satisfaction with the system in France itself. Germany ranked second at 22% and Great Britain third at 15%. Only 10% of respondents said they had a positive opinion of the U.S. health care system. The U.S. health care system was better regarded by residents in Great Britain (17%) and Italy (14%) than in France (3%), Germany (5%) or Spain (8%), according to the Harris survey.

When the World Health Organization ranked the health care systems of 191 countries in 2000, France was rated as having the best system in the world, according to the press release.