US Health in International Perspective: Shorter Lives, Poorer Health
http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2013/US-Health-in-International-Perspective-Shorter-Lives-Poorer-Health.aspx
The United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world, but it
is far from the healthiest. For many years, Americans have been dying at
younger ages than people in almost all other high-income countries. This
health disadvantage prevails even though the U.S. spends far more per
person on health care than any other nation. To gain a better
understanding of this problem, the NIH asked the National Research
Council and the IOM to investigate potential reasons for the U.S. health
disadvantage and to assess its larger implications. No single factor can
fully explain the U.S. health disadvantage. It likely has multiple
causes and involves some combination of inadequate health care,
unhealthy behaviors, adverse economic and social conditions, and
environmental factors, as well as public policies and social values that
shape those conditions. Without action to reverse current trends, the
health of Americans will probably continue to fall behind that of people
in other high-income countries. The tragedy is not that the U.S. is
losing a contest with other countries, but that Americans are dying and
suffering from illness and injury at rates that are demonstrably
unnecessary.
Policy Brief at
http://www.iom.edu/~/media/Files/Report%20Files/2013/US-Health-International-Perspective/USHealth_Intl_PerspectiveRB.pdf
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