U.S. Healthcare Spending Vs Other Countries

Healthcare Spending

Globally speaking, the US is regarded as a major player in the affairs of the world. As a major world power of the modern age, we lead the world into the future, and with a leading economy, and a reputation as a wealthy and advanced civilization, the facts about our expenses in the realm of healthcare are very surprising.

The US spends the most money on healthcare out of all the world’s nations and countries, but not necessarily because other countries can’t afford to. The US spends about $4500 per person, which is $1200 more than the country that spends the second largest amount per person. And even though we spend more than any other country does on healthcare, we only rank as the 27th longest life expectancy of the world.

In comparison to the US, Cuba, which ranks 28th spends only $186 per person, which is a significant $4316 less than what we spend. Switzerland, which spends the second largest amount of money ($3300), ranks 4th worldwide in life expectancy. Japan, rank 1st worldwide in life expectancy, is the 15th largest spender, proving that more money invested does not necessarily mean the best possible healthcare.

Many countries perform less then they are expected for the amount they spend. Some countries that are beneath the healthcare curve, like Iraq and Africa, perfor less then expected because of the situation they are in. Sierra Lone, rank last in life expectancy at approximately 36 years, is far beneath the curve. But some countries perform beneath expectations for unknown reasons, like Switzerland, or more namely, the US. For the amount that the US spends, are expectation of life expectancy is about 86 years, yet our current life expectancy is 77 years. Some countries surpass the curve however. Japan, projected to have a life expectancy of 77 years, surpasses expectations and has a life expectancy of about 81 years.

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