The United States spends more than twice as much as the average Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development country on healthcare, yet it lags in many health indicators, according to a recently published OECD report.
Six quick takeaways:
- The U.S. spent the most of any OECD country on healthcare in 2018, at $10,686 per person, while the OECD average is $3,994.
- The U.S. also spent the greatest proportion of its GDP on healthcare (16.9 percent), compared to the 8.8 percent for the average OECD country.
- Meanwhile, just 91 percent of the population in the U.S. is eligible to receive a core set of healthcare services, placing the U.S. near last and just head of Mexico (89 percent population coverage), though Mexico also spends roughly a tenth of what the U.S. spends on healthcare. The average OECD country offers 98 percent of its population coverage for a core set of services.
- About 50 percent of total healthcare expenditures are covered by insurance in the U.S., compared to about 71 percent in the average OECD country.
- The U.S. has below average life expectancy — 78.6 years in the U.S. compared to 80.7 years on average — and below average avoidable deaths. About 262 deaths per 100,000 were avoidable in the U.S. in 2018, compared to 208 deaths on average.
- Despite below average health status, Americans believe they are healthy — only 2.6 percent of Americans over age 15 rated themselves as in poor health, compared to 8.7 percent of people in the average OECD country.
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