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   American Health Worse Than Other Nations: Report   
   Jeffrey Young	 | 5 hours ago   
      
   Comments (473)   
   Politicians like to tell us that America has the best health care in   
   the world. This patriotic sentiment runs counter to innumerable   
   studies that show Americans spend more on health care but don't get   
   better health in return.   
   The latest example is a report published Tuesday by the National   
   Research Council and the Institute of Medicine, two entities that are   
   part of the prestigious National Academies.   
   The title sort of says it all: "U.S. Health in International   
   Perspective: Shorter Lives, Poorer Health."   
   The United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world, but it   
   is far from the healthiest. Although life expectancy and survival   
   rates in the United States have improved dramatically over the past   
   century, Americans live shorter lives and experience more injuries and   
   illnesses than people in other high-income countries.   
   The report compares the U.S. to 16 other rich countries, including   
   Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany. To those who know, the results   
   aren't surprising. But they are unsettling: Life expectancy is worse   
   in the U.S. than in most of those nations; the infant mortality rate   
   is the worst; car crashes, violence and injuries kill Americans at a   
   faster clip than people elsewhere; obesity and diabetes are bigger   
   problems in the U.S. And so on.   
   The whole report is available here and a summary via press release is   
   here.   
   The New York Times highlights the fact that people younger than 50   
   years old fare particularly poorly in the U.S.:   
   Deaths that occur before age 50 accounted for about two-thirds of the   
   difference in life expectancy between males in the United States and   
   their counterparts in 16 other developed countries, and about one-   
   third of the difference for females.   
   For older Americans and people with certain medical conditions, the   
   news isn't as bad, the Wall Street Journal notes:   
   The authors noted higher survival as compared with similar countries   
   for Americans who lived past age 75, as well as better rates of   
   survival specifically in cases of cancer and stroke. They also noted   
   better control of blood pressure, cholesterol levels and smoking for   
   Americans.   
      
      
   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/jeffrey-young/american-h   
   alth-worse-tha_b_2441236.html   
      
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