This story appears in the January 2019 issue of National Geographic magazine.
From high-tech surgeries to groundbreaking HIV treatments, medical innovation has dramatically improved health outcomes since the 1980s. In wealthy nations, health care spending has risen, and lives have been lengthened. But the United States follows a slightly different pattern, with skyrocketing health expenditures and a much slower increase in life expectancy. Unequal access to treatment and poor preventive care for many U.S. residents may partly explain the difference, analysts say.
HEALTH EXPENDITURE
LIFE EXPECTANCY
1980
(average at birth)
LIFE EXPECTANCY
2015
(average at birth)
1980
2015
(per person per year, in U.S. dollars)
84
$9,000
Over 35 years,
83
other nations put caps on medical prices and spending to guarantee access to most of their residents, while the U.S. allowed expenditures to
go unchecked.
82
8,000
81
7,000
In 1980,
80
U.S. life expectancy was similar to those of other developed nations, as was spending on health care.
79
6,000
78
78
5,000
77
$4,000
4,000
76
In 2015,
75
despite the most spending per person, U.S. life expectancy ranked the lowest in its peer group, due partially to poor preventive care for less well-off Americans.
3,000
3,000
74
2,000
2,000
73
72
ALL OTHER
OECD NATIONS*
Without universal health coverage
1,000
1,000
71
With universal health
coverage provided by
public and private insurers
$0
$0
Without universal health coverage
With universal health
coverage provided by
public and private insurers
LIFE EXPECTANCY
1980
(average at birth)
72
74
76
78
In 1980,
U.S. life expectancy was similar to those of other developed nations, as was spending on health care.
ALL
OTHER
OECD
NATIONS*
HEALTH
EXPENDITURE
1980
(per person per year, in U.S. dollars)
$0
2,000
$4,000
Over 35 years,
other nations put caps on medical prices and spending to guarantee access to most of their residents, while the U.S. allowed expenditures to
go unchecked.
$0
2,000
4,000
6,000
$8,000
HEALTH
EXPENDITURE
2015
(per person per year, in U.S. dollars)
In 2015,
despite the most spending per person, U.S. life expectancy ranked the lowest in its peer group, due partially to poor preventive care for less well-off Americans.
78
80
82
84
LIFE EXPECTANCY
2015
(average at birth)
*INCLUDES ONLY OECD COUNTRIES FOR WHICH DATA ARE AVAILABLE.
THE OECD IS A GROUP OF 36 OF THE WORLD’S MORE AFFLUENT,
DEVELOPED NATIONS.
SOURCES: ESTEBAN ORTIZ-OSPINA, OURWORLDINDATA.ORG,
OXFORD UNIVERSITY; UN POPULATION DIVISION; OECD.STAT