Why Is the United States So Sick?

Why Is the United States So Sick?
The director of a massive new study says: “It’s almost everything.”
By Laudan Aron|Posted Sunday, July 21, 2013, at 7:00 AM

Americans die younger and experience more injury and illness than people in other rich nations, despite spending almost twice as much per person on health care. That was the startling conclusion of a major report released earlier this year by the U.S. National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine.


What it revealed was the extent of the United States' large and growing "health disadvantage," which shows up as higher rates of disease and injury from birth to age 75 for men and women, rich and poor, across all races and ethnicities. The comparison countries―Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom―generally do much better, although the United Kingdom isn't far behind the United States.



The poorer outcomes in the United States are reflected in measures as varied as infant mortality, the rate of teen pregnancy, traffic fatalities, and heart disease. Even those with health insurance, high incomes, college educations, and healthy lifestyles appear to be sicker than their counterparts in other wealthy countries. The U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan think tank, described the report as "a catalog of horrors."


Findings that prompted this reaction include the fact that the rate of premature births in the United States is the highest among the comparison countries and more closely resembles those of sub-Saharan Africa.



Our health depends on much more than just medical care. Behaviors such as diet, physical activity, and even how fast we drive all have profound effects. So do the environments that expose us to health risks or discourage healthy living, as well as social determinants of health, such as education, income, and poverty.
The United States fares poorly in almost all of these. In addition to many millions of people lacking health insurance, financial barriers to care, and a lack of primary care providers compared with other rich countries, people in the United States consume more calories, are more sedentary, abuse more drugs, and shoot one another more often. The United States also lags behind on many measures of education, has higher child poverty and income inequality, and lower social mobility than most other advanced democracies.






One major impediment is that the United States, which emphasizes self-reliance, individualism, and free markets, is resistant to anything that even appears to hint at socialism. Interestingly, as a group, classically liberal nations like the United States and the United Kingdom―free market-oriented with less regulation, tax, and government services―are the least healthy among wealthy democracies.
By contrast, social democratic countries such as Sweden―in which the state emphasizes full employment, income protection, housing, education, health and social insurance―enjoy better overall health, although health inequalities within these nations are not always the smallest.





when you add in tax-based subsidies and private social spending, it ranks as the fifth highest in the world, just after Sweden. What distinguishes the United States is how that money is spent. More goes to healthcare―while still leaving many without health insurance or access to care―and less to children, families, and the disadvantaged.

　アメリカの国民は日本を含む他の豊かの国に比べて、寿命が短く、怪我もしやすく、また、病気にもなりやすい、と。早産の率はなんと、サブサハラアフリカと双肩するくらいである、と。

　自助、個人主義、自由市場主義ーーーなにか聞き覚えがあるようなーーーを協調する英米がもっとも不健康であった、と。

　健康というのは医療だけではなく、食事やら運動やら、環境やら、教育やら保険制度などなど、多くの要因によって決まってくるが、アメリカはどの分野においても劣る、と。

　アメリカは、他国と同様、健康分野に金は費やしているのだが、費やし方がまずく、健康保険にかかっていない人や、弱者に恩恵がいきわたっていないのだ、と。