U.S. Isn’t Getting Health Care It Pays For

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the United States spends 15.3 percent of its gross domestic product on health care, or $6,714 per capita annually. Compare that to the United Kingdom, which spends 8.4 percent of GDP ($2,784 per capita), or Canada, which spends 10 percent of GDP ($3,672 per capita), and one quickly realizes that Americans are not getting what they pay for.

Although the U.S. spends more in terms of both GDP and real dollars, Americans born today have a shorter life expectancy than our British and Canadian friends as well as an obesity rate 10 percentage points higher than the British and more than 15 percentage points higher than the Canadians.

Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that there are 46 million uninsured Americans, according to the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation’s project known as “Cover the Uninsured.” These people can obtain care only when their health is at great risk, and it is the rest of us who are left to pay their often expensive bills. In contrast, there are no uninsured Britons or Canadians and they pay even less than we do for results that are equal to or better than our own. Are we really getting what we pay for?

Originally printed on as a letter to the editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Click here to view.