Consider this your daily reminder that the U.S. healthcare system is indeed exceptional. Just not in a good way.
According to a new report from the OECD, life expectancy in the United States is now 1.4 years below the international average, which puts us in the same range as Chile and the Czech Republic. That's not because Americans are dying younger—on the contrary, we're living eight years longer today than we did in 1970, when the United States led the world in life expectancy. But the rest of the developed world has gotten much healthier, much faster in the past 40 years. People in Switzerland, Japan and Italy are living a full four years longer than the average American.
More disturbing is the fact that our sub-par life expectancy comes at a cost more than double the OECD average. Take a look at the position of the United States in the graph above, which charts the relationship between healthcare spending per capita and life expectancy at birth. The United States is more than just an economic outlier. It's also the only rich country without universal healthcare.
Tags: health care, aca, obamacare, life expectancy, benjamin landy, oecd, universal healthcare, health care reform
GOTD: American Health Care Is Exceptional—Not in a Good Way
Consider this your daily reminder that the U.S. healthcare system is indeed exceptional. Just not in a good way.
According to a new report from the OECD, life expectancy in the United States is now 1.4 years below the international average, which puts us in the same range as Chile and the Czech Republic. That's not because Americans are dying younger—on the contrary, we're living eight years longer today than we did in 1970, when the United States led the world in life expectancy. But the rest of the developed world has gotten much healthier, much faster in the past 40 years. People in Switzerland, Japan and Italy are living a full four years longer than the average American.
More disturbing is the fact that our sub-par life expectancy comes at a cost more than double the OECD average. Take a look at the position of the United States in the graph above, which charts the relationship between healthcare spending per capita and life expectancy at birth. The United States is more than just an economic outlier. It's also the only rich country without universal healthcare.
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Tags: health care, aca, obamacare, life expectancy, benjamin landy, oecd, universal healthcare, health care reform