America Spends Nearly Twice as Much on Healthcare — So Why Are We Dying Younger?

Despite spending more on healthcare than other wealthy nations, the United States continues to lag in life expectancy.

Researchers and medical experts point to gaps in preventive care, financial insecurity, and unequal access to treatment as contributing factors.

BearFotos/Shutterstock Someone born in the United States today has a life expectancy of 79 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

That is the highest in the nation’s history.

However, it only ranks 38th among countries with a population of one million or more.  Research published in The Milbank Quarterly shows that the mortality gap between the U.S.

and other high- and middle-income countries has expanded over time and continues to grow.

That widening divide is “driven in particular by rising mortality rates that threaten the probability that youth can survive to middle age, or even adulthood,” notes the report authored by Dr.

Stephen Woolf of Virginia Commonwealth University.

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