Why The United States Ranks So Poorly During The American Health System

The United States has a very unique healthcare system. Does this mean that we are simply leagues ahead of the rest of the world in healthcare? Unfortunately, not at all. The ideal of American exceptionalism is apt to describe our healthcare system. That is, our current system is exceptionally bad. Per capita, the United States spends “twice the average of other developed countries” on healthcare ("United States Per Capita Healthcare Spending Is More Than Twice The Average Of Other Developed Countries"). Yet, in the World Health Organization’s ranking of healthcare systems by nation, the U.S. comes in at a dismal 37th place, despite spending the most per person of any country on Earth on healthcare ("World Health Organization’s Ranking of the World’s Health Systems").

The United States health care system ranks 37th in the world. Statistically, it’s bizarre how United States is amongst one of the most advanced nations in the world and the fact that it spends more on its healthcare

In “The American Health Care Paradox”, Elizabeth H. Bradley and Lauren A. Taylor explore why the American health care system achieves mediocre results, despite spending a higher percentage of its gross domestic product than any other country in the world on health care. They explain that health care is more than just getting medical treatment, but there are social factors that affect a person 's health. The authors claim that more government spending on medical treatments is not the solution to the health care paradox, but we should focus more on social needs that have a greater impact on health. Case studies and interviews with physicians, other health care providers, and social service providers are used to support the authors’ claims. Though the authors do not explicitly state the path they believe the American health care system should follow, they give examples of foreign health care systems and domestic health care projects that may point in the right direction.

Contrary to what many people believe, America’s health status is not quite “up-to-par,” to say the least. Over forty-seven million people in the United States lack health insurance; that is more than 15% of our nation’s population! At first this disturbing truth seems impossible to believe, being as America is one of the most technologically advanced and economically developed countries in the world. “We spend trillions of dollars per year on medical care. That’s nearly half of all the health dollars spent in the world. But we’ve seen our statistics. We live shorter, often sicker lives than almost every other industrialized nation. “We rank 30th in [global] life expectancy” (Adelman 2008). Knowing this brings rise to the question: why are

Consequently the U.S. spends more money than any other country on health care, and the medical care that is being provided may be compromised. Research has shown that the lack of health care insurance compromises a person’s health. However, there continues to be unnecessary death every year in the U.S. due to lack of health care

According to Hagop Kantarjian, we rank 70 out of 132 countries “An Unhealthy System” (2). With that being said its shows that we do not have the best, but that were also in the lower half of the chain. Many probably think how is that so, but the fact of the matter is that it is just so costly for good health care in our great country of the United States and without insurance, it makes it nearly impossible to pay for any medical expenses that we may face. Many would argue that we do have the best health care, and I would say they are not completely wrong, but where we fall short is that it is too expensive and more times than not people often make poor choices in taking care for their body even though there are ways to do so. I feel we could make drastic strides in moving up this ranking system by if we simply just changed our diets and made a little time to work out. This would go a long way in keeping your body feeling well and keeping costs down when you would be going to the doctor for checkups.

Health care is a major industry in the U.S, trillion of dollars goes into health care on a yearly basis. The health of the nation is important to the government and there is many factors that affect the health of individuals and the nation as a whole. Many citizens consider the cost of health care to be the main factor as to why the nation’s people aren’t as healthy as they should be. Over the years the government have taken several precautions in improving the access, affordability, and quality of health care provided to its citizens. Though changes have been made, other factors such as income, education, lifestyles, and genetics play a role in the decline of health in an individual as well. In order for the U.S to become a healthier nation

Everyone would agree that a good health system, above all, must contribute to good health. It is certainly not considered acceptable to protect or improve the average health of the population, if at the same time inequality worsens or remains high because the gain accrues disproportionately to those already enjoying better health. The responsibility of a health care system is also to reduce inequalities to race, gender, social status and religion. While the United States is considered a world leader in almost any category they are judged; however, the US healthcare system remains one of the worst. This analysis will compare the US health

U.S. is one of the most developed countries and spends 18% of its GDP for providing health care to Americans. Although, it spends highest amount of money compared to other developed nations, it significantly lacks behind in improving access, quality, and cost. In terms of cost, there is a great deal of changes that must be implemented to make health care affordable to everyone. There is a major issue of high administrative cost of health care yielding high insurance rates. Despite having the most advance technology available, US leads the world in chronic disease such as heart diseases, diabetes, obesity, mental illness etc. US has no central agency to ensure integration and coordination of health care which increases complexity and unequal distribution of power. We have a technology driven delivery system that focus on acute care rather than preventive care. Access to health care is only limited to people who have insurance either through their private funding, employer, or government programs. A large portion of Americans do not have a primary care physician resulting in high mortality rate. Thus, US health care is high on cost, unequal in access, and average in outcome.

According to The Commonwealth Fund (2016), the United States spend $2.9 trillion annually on health care which is estimate about $9,200 per person, but still the healthcare system isn’t necessarily as the best care or ensuring good health. In fact, not only does the U.S. fare worse in terms of infant mortality and life expectancy than other developed nations, it also tops the list for deaths that are considered preventable with timely and appropriate treatment. The cause of this issue is the health care is too high to certain people to afford. As a matter of fact, there are many people who do not have access to health care due to a high health insurance premium. One of the problems that causes a high rate mortality in children, is because the

When we think of the United States, we think of the richest, most powerful country in the world. Yet, health care is not readily available to the people that live within this country. At a time when health care levels are increasing, so are our diseases.

Regardless of the number of improvements made to the system, if people do not make steps towards improving their state of health on their own, the system will not be able to accomodate for these changes. Steven A. Schroeder, a Harvard Medical School graduate and Distinguished Professor of Health and health care at the University of California, San Francisco, conducted a study that examines the United States international ranking of health status. His research can be used to identify the current situation of American health, methods of improving the

New data results posted by the National Research Council (NRC) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM)"(Huff 2013) points out, our government spends up to 250% more on health care than many other advanced countries and still has a shorter lifespan ranking among all of them. Without question, the single most important issue detected in this trial, was more United States citizens die from drugs, prescription and otherwise, than all other nations involved in the research, asserts Health Impact News (HIN)"(Huff 2013), however, when it comes to fatalities, America 's health system wins the prize. Without doubt, it is ultimately responsible for the number one cause of death in the country today, sending more people to their graves than heart failure or cancer.

In the article, “Mirror, Mirror On the Wall 2014 Update: How the U.S. Health System Compares Internationally” The Common Wealth Fund, The World Health Organization and The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development contributed information that was used in ranking health care systems internationally. This article discussed eleven countries and their rankings in dimensional health care. The six dimensions of health care are as follows: quality of care, access, efficiency, equity, healthy lives, and health expenditures (cite). Of these six dimensions, each is unique in what it stands for.

Health care has been a major topic of debate over the last couple years, especially in the United States. The broken health care system of the U.S. has been ridiculed for being the only developed country that does not have a national health insurance plan that covers each and every citizen (Schneider, 2011). Other developed countries around the world have made examples of themselves by establishing insurance plans that cover every single person. However, these plans have had problems of their own. Even with these small problems, the United States could learn a lot from certain aspects of these countries flourishing health care systems.