It seems crazy that we are living in the 21st century, with some of the most advanced technological innovations known to man, and that the U.S. spends more per capita on healthcare than any other nation in the world, yet we continue to become sicker and sicker instead of healthier.
Yet it's true.
Over the past decade or so, the U.S. has made headlines - not for its advanced healthcare system, but for the fact that we now rank lower than almost every other developed country when it comes to a number of health and longevity factors.
In the World Health Report 2000, the U.S. healthcare system was ranked 37th in the world! In 2006, the United States was number 1 in terms of health care spending per capita, but ranked 39th for infant mortality, 43rd for adult female mortality, 42nd for adult male mortality, and 36th for life expectancy (New England Journal of Medicine, Jan. 14, 2010).
And it's not getting any better! In 2014, Time magazine reported that in the 2014 Commonwealth Fund survey, the U.S. healthcare system ranked dead last in "efficiency, equity and outcomes" out of 11 countries including France, Australia, Germany, Canada, Sweden, New Zealand, Norway, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the U.K..
And in 2015, the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) stated in their annual Health At A Glance Report that "Life expectancy in the United States is lower than in most other OECD countries for several reasons, including poorer health-related behaviours and the highly fragmented nature of the US health system."
How can this be? How can a country that spends more than any other country in the world on healthcare be so unhealthy?
Yet it's true.
Over the past decade or so, the U.S. has made headlines - not for its advanced healthcare system, but for the fact that we now rank lower than almost every other developed country when it comes to a number of health and longevity factors.
In the World Health Report 2000, the U.S. healthcare system was ranked 37th in the world! In 2006, the United States was number 1 in terms of health care spending per capita, but ranked 39th for infant mortality, 43rd for adult female mortality, 42nd for adult male mortality, and 36th for life expectancy (New England Journal of Medicine, Jan. 14, 2010).
And it's not getting any better! In 2014, Time magazine reported that in the 2014 Commonwealth Fund survey, the U.S. healthcare system ranked dead last in "efficiency, equity and outcomes" out of 11 countries including France, Australia, Germany, Canada, Sweden, New Zealand, Norway, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the U.K..
And in 2015, the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) stated in their annual Health At A Glance Report that "Life expectancy in the United States is lower than in most other OECD countries for several reasons, including poorer health-related behaviours and the highly fragmented nature of the US health system."
How can this be? How can a country that spends more than any other country in the world on healthcare be so unhealthy?
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