Life expectancy at birth measures the average duration a newborn is likely to live under some existing mortality conditions (Roffia et al., 2022). The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development indicated a continued rise in healthcare enrollments between 2006 and 2016 in the united states. According to Niles (2019), The OECD reported an average of 80.6 years of life expectancy at birth in 2015, with 25 countries recording a life expectancy of above that and 17 others recording below that. The highest life expectancy was recorded at 83.9years, 83years and 82.9years which came from japan, Spain and Switzerland respectively. united states had an average of 78.8 years which was slightly below that of OECD. Over the years, lower life expectancy has been recorded in the United States as compared to other countries despite america’s high healthcare expenditure due to poor healthcare access, unhealthy lifestyles and socioeconomic disparity among americans.
Americans rarely have access to healthcare services as healthcare professionals are barely enough for the American population. Although the united states have the highest healthcare expenditure, the increased spending rarely reflects better healthcare solutions. The study by Tikkanen and Abrams (2020) indicates that Americans pay less frequent visits to doctors and physicians, statistically half the rate that the Germans and Dutch. Most of the American population is medically uninsured, unlike in other countries, which contributes to inadequate healthcare services and higher rates of preventable deaths, and, consequently, lower life expectancy. Additionally, America is one of the highest-ranked countries in sheltering highly obese cases. According to the OECD, it rises to twice the OECD average and up to four times that of countries such as Switzerland and Norway. According to Tikkanen and Abrams (2020), Unhealthy living environments, unhealthy feeding habits, and behavioral factors in the United States are the main contributors to obesity. Obesity is a key catalyst to lifestyle chronic diseases and disorders such as hypertension, diabetes, and even cancer, which have been seen to threaten life expectancy levels.
Furthermore, according to Niles (2019), the Prevalence of unhealthy behaviors in the united states than in other countries has also contributed to lower life expectancy levels in America than in other countries. High levels of drug and substance abuse within the American population, for instance, alcohol abuse, have led to relatively high chronic diseases, such as cancer, within America than in other countries where drug and substance abuse is minimal. These behaviors are catalysts to lower life expectancy in America than in other countries. Finally, America is known for higher levels of social disparity than other countries. Ethnic segregation, income inequalities, and unfair treatment of minority groups are more rampant in the united states than in other countries over the decades. Marginalized minorities have low life expectancies following the numerous risks of immature mortality, including mistreatment in healthcare institutions and poor healthcare outcomes. American marginalized groups contribute to lowering life expectancies in the united states, a situation that is minimally available in other countries.
In conclusion, although the united states healthcare systems are the most funded worldwide, Americans continuously live relatively unhealthy short lives than other people worldwide. Life expectancy in America is below that of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development and slightly below other high-income countries like japan, Spain and Switzerland. The low life expectancy can be tied to poor access to healthcare services, poor lifestyles and unhealthy behaviors, and socioeconomic disparity in America. Combating this situation in the united states through the collaborative promotion of healthy behaviors, policy interventions to improve healthcare services, and strengthening social systems is possible.
References
Niles, N. J. (2019). Basics of the U.S. Health Care System. In Google Books. Jones & Bartlett Learning. https://www.google.co.ke/books/edition/Basics_of_the_U_S_Health_Care_System/Nf-pDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=OECD+Summary+of+Countries%27+Health+Status+Life+expectancy+and+infant+mortality+rates+are+data+used+to+asses&pg=PA37&printsec=frontcover
Roffia, P., Bucciol, A., & Hashlamoun, S. (2022). Determinants of life expectancy at birth: a longitudinal study on OECD countries. International Journal of Health Economics and Management. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10754-022-09338-5
Tikkanen, R., & Abrams, M. K. (2020, January 30). U.S. health care from a global perspective, 2019: Higher spending, worse outcomes? The Commonwealth Fund. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2020/jan/us-health-care-global-perspective-2019
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