Americans spend exorbitant amounts on health care and have for years. As a country, the United States spends more on health care than any other high-income country in the world, based on both per capita cost and percentage of gross domestic product. But looking at key health indicators over the past few years doesn’t tell us that. The United States is in relatively poor health. And if anything, the COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated the failure of the U.S. healthcare system compared to its peers, according to a new analysis by the Commonwealth Fund.
Compared with other high-income countries, the United States has the lowest life expectancy at birth, the highest avoidable mortality rate, the highest neonatal mortality rate, the highest maternal mortality rate, and the highest proportion of adults with multiple chronic diseases. A new analysis found the highest rates of obesity and highest obesity rates.
Munira Gunja, lead author of the analysis and Senior Fellow at the Commonwealth Foundation’s International Program on Innovation in Health Policy and Practice, said: , living a shorter and healthier life.” in a press statement. “To catch up with other high-income countries, administrations and parliaments must act aggressively to expand access to health care, contain costs, and invest in health equity and social services. We know this leads to healthier people.”
die young
Overall, this analysis paints a grim picture of how much the US will have to do to catch up. In terms of life expectancy, the U.S. lagged behind the country for years before plummeting during the pandemic, while other countries fared better. , three years shorter than the high-income country average. The next lowest life expectancy among high-income countries is the UK, where her life expectancy at birth in 2020 was 80.4 years.
Preliminary data for 2021 show that life expectancy in the United States has fallen further by nearly a year, from 77.0 to 76.1 years. In this context, the United States had the highest her COVID-19 death rate in 2020 compared to high-income countries, and he was one of the countries with the lowest COVID-19 vaccination coverage.
In a particularly embarrassing set of statistics, the United States continues to have higher infant and maternal mortality rates than any other high-income country. In 2020, her 5.4 infants died per 1,000 live births in the United States, compared to her 4.1 in high-income countries. In Norway there were 1.6 deaths per 1000 live births. The healthcare system is also failing mothers. There will be 24 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2020, about 2.5 times the average for high-income countries. Her second-highest maternal mortality rate was New Zealand, with 13.6 per 100,000 live births.
As many US states are now rapidly turning back the clock on reproductive rights and obstetric care, the US’s appallingly high child and maternal mortality rates are expected to worsen.
Beyond pregnancy, Americans are dying from other treatable or preventable conditions at rates far higher than seen in all other high-income countries. 336 deaths per person were avoidable, compared with an average of only 225 per 100,000 in high-income countries. Avoidable death rates in the United States have risen since 2015, the analysis notes.
Sicker
This is consistent with the finding that Americans are more likely than people in high-income countries to have multiple chronic conditions.In 2020, 30.4% of adults in the United States had two He said he had been diagnosed with one of the above chronic diseases. In other high-income countries, he was less than one in four adults who reported having two or more chronic conditions. America’s high obesity rates may play a role in that disparity. In fact, she’s nearly twice as tall as the average of her peers.
Americans die young in avoidable conditions, but they also spend exorbitant amounts on healthcare. That’s almost double her high-income country average of 9.6%. His per capita spending exceeds that of his peers, with him paying about $12,000 per capita through government insurance programs, private insurance, and out-of-pocket expenses. The closest country to US spending was Germany, where per capita spending was just over $7,000 for her.
These data suggest that these high prices may discourage Americans from getting the care they need, fostering higher rates of chronic disease and avoidable mortality. and the United States had the lowest rate of doctor visits, just four times a year. The average was 5.7. The United States also has one of the lowest rates of practitioners per 100,000 people in the country, with 2.6 him per 100,000 compared to her average of 3.7.
The United States was the only high-income country without guaranteed health care coverage. People in most other high-income countries insure their health insurance with the option of purchasing additional private insurance.
