U.S. healthcare costs the most but isn’t the best: report

Healthcare in the United States is the most expensive in the world, but it's not the best, according to new research. For each person, the U.S. spent $7,690 on medical care in 2009, according to data from the Commonwealth Fund research group. That was 17% of GDP at the time and the most of the 13 nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD. Healthcare spending in the U.S. was three times more than in Japan, the country with the lowest costs. The second-biggest spender, Norway, shelled out $5,352 per person, or 9.6% of GDP. The authors of the report claim it's because many medical services used in this country are unnecessary or inefficient.