Journal of the National Cancer Institute: Race and Ethnicity And Breast Cancer Outcomes In An Underinsured Population -- "We conducted a retrospective review of medical records for [574] breast cancer patients who were treated at Wishard Memorial Hospital from January 1, 1997, to February 28, 2006. ... Sociodemographic characteristics were similar in the two groups ... most (84%) of the patients were underinsured. ... African American patients had poorer breast cancer-specific survival than non-Hispanic white patients. After adjustment for clinical and sociodemographic factors, the effect of race on survival was no longer statistically significant" (Komenaka, 6/23). 

Commonwealth Fund: Mirror, Mirror On The Wall: How The Performance Of The U.S. Health Care System Compares Internationally, 2010 Update - Despite spending more on health care than any other country in the world, the U.S. "ranks last or next-to-last on five dimensions of a high performance health system: quality, access, efficiency, equity, and healthy lives" compared to Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom. This report - updated from earlier ones - includes "data from the seven countries and incorporates patients' and physicians' survey results on care experiences and ratings on various dimensions of care" (Davis, Schoen and Stremikis, 6/23).

A separate Commonwealth Fund report (.pdf) provides an overview of the health systems of 13 countries - Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. The report highlights who and what is covered under the various country health systems as well as each system's organization of the delivery (Squires, 6/23).

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