NOTICE how the U.S. compares with Sweden, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Hungary. Why might our health care costs be so high?
If the U.S. spends so much on health care, why are we so unhealthy?
We spend more than twice as much per person on health care than the average of other industrialized countries – 16% of our GDP in 2006, expected to climb to 20% by 2016.
The sicker a population, the greater the health care costs. Our medical system may be the best in the world, but it can only repair ailing bodies, not address the underlying causes of disease and illness.
The U.S. child poverty rate is by far the highest among rich nations. Children in poverty are 7 times more likely to be in poor or fair health than the rich.
