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Jerry Aneke

HSCI 610

13 November 2017

Global Health and Human Development Essay

The United States is one of the wealthiest and most powerful nations in the world. It even

ranks 10 out of 188 on the HDI index (United Nations Development Programme, 2015). I am not

surprised by this because the United States is a highly developed country and is one of the

wealthiest countries in the world. Because the United States is very wealthy, it has been able to

invest money into its infrastructure, education, economy, and healthcare in order to make itself

more highly developed than most other countries in the world. In fact, after World War II, the

United States became the most powerful and developed nation in the world. However, as the

other developed nations began to rebuild and globalization increased, other developed nations

have begun to surpass the U.S. in terms of infrastructure, education, and healthcare. This is most

evident when it comes to healthcare and health outcomes.

The life expectancy in the United States is 79.2 years (United Nations Development

Programme, 2015). This is the lower than most other highly developed countries. For instance,

the life expectancy is 83.7 years in Japan, 82.5 years in Australia, 80.8 years in the United

Kingdom, 82.2 years in Canada, 81.1 years in Germany, and 76.0 years in China (United Nations

Life Expectancy in the U.S. vs Other

Nations
83.7 82.5 82.2
85 80.8 81.1
79.2
Life Expectancy (Years)

80 76
75
70
United Japan Australia United Canada Germany China
States Kingdom
Countries
Development Programme, 2015).
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Perhaps this is because of the increased violence in the U.S and the fact that the United States

medical system focuses more on expensive, highly specialized care than primary care and

preventive care. America suffers from more gun violence and homicides than any other

developed country and the National Rifle Association has blocked efforts for better gun control

through massive lobbying efforts. Other developed countries such as Japan have much stricter

gun safety laws and have less gun-related homicides as a result. America is the nation where the

fast food industry began, and it has more people who consume fast food and become overweight

or obese as a result. Unfortunately, because the U.S. focuses less on primary and preventive care

and more on specialized care than other developed nations, people are only going to the hospital

when they are suffering from chronic or life-threatening health problems. At that point, life

expectancy has already been shortened and all that could done is to provide emergency treatment

or medication to prevent patients’ symptoms from getting worse and killing them. If the United

States adopted a more holistic healthcare system like the other developed countries that focused

more on primary care and preventive care, more people would have been educated about better

eating habits, live healthier lifestyles, and have longer life expectancies.

In the United States, the maternal mortality rate is 14 out of every 100,000 live births and

the infant mortality rate is 5.6 out of every 1,000 live births (Human Development Report:

Maternal […], 2015). For other nations, the maternal mortality rate is 5.0 out of every 100,000

live births in Japan, 7.0 out of every 100,000 live births in Australia, 12 out of every 100,000 live

births in the United Kingdom, 12 out of every 100,000 live births in Canada, 7.0 out of every

100,000 live births in Germany, and 37 out of every 100,000 live births in China (Human

Development Report: Maternal […], 2015). The infant mortality rate is 2.0 out of every 1,000

live births in Japan, 3.0 out of every 1,000 live births in Australia, 3.5 out of every 1,000 live

births in the United Kingdom, 4.3 out of every 1,000 live births in Canada, 3.1 out of every 1,000
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live births in Germany, and 9.2 out of every 1,000 live births in China (Human Development

Maternal Mortality Rate in

the U.S. vs Other Nations
40 37

Mortality Rate (deaths per 100,000 live

35
30
25
20 14
15 12 12
10 5.6 7 7
5

births)
0

Countries
Report: Under-five […], 2015).

Infant Mortality Rate in

the U.S. vs Other Nations
10 9.2
Mortality Rate (deaths per 1,000 live

8
5.6
6 4.3
3 3.5 3.1
4
2
2
births)

Countries
Perhaps this is because the U.S. has medicalized

childbirth. Most of the other countries have mothers give birth naturally, but because most

hospitals in the U.S. are looking to make a profit by promoting expensive medical services, such

as C-sections, even when they are not necessary. This leads to more mothers giving birth

prematurely, which results in a higher risk of complications, such as death, for both the mother

and the baby.

The United States spends about 17.9% of its GDP on healthcare, while Japan spends

about 9.3%, Australia spends about 9.0%, the United Kingdom spends about 9.3%, Canada
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spends about 11.2%, Germany spends about 11.2%, and China spends about 5.2% of its GDP on

healthcare (Human Development Report: Expenditure […], 2015).

% of GDP spent on Healthcare in

the U.S. vs Other Nations
20 17.9

15
% of GDP

11.2 11.1
9.3 9 9.3
10
5.2
5
0

Countries
I already knew that the United States spends a

lot of money on healthcare, but I do not understand why. I find it difficult to understand how

America could spend the most money on healthcare, but still have worse health outcomes, such

as shorter life expectancies, than other developed nations such as Japan, Australia, Germany, and

Canada. Perhaps this is an example of America thinking that it can solve all of its problems by

merely throwing money at them. How much money is thrown at a problem is not nearly as

important as where specifically that money is directed. For instance, developed countries such as

Japan, Australia, Germany, and Canada use federal, taxpayer money to fund hospitals so that

patients could receive care for free. However, U.S. spending for healthcare is more complicated,

with some federal money going towards public insurance in the form of Medicaid, Medicare, and

Social Security that only covers the elderly, and most of the money going towards supporting

private insurance agencies and pharmaceutical companies. The United States would be able to

reduce its healthcare spending if it removed private insurance and focused more of its resources

on funding public hospitals and providing more health education. Unfortunately, this will not

happen anytime soon because of the massive lobbying of pharmaceutical companies and
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insurance agencies aiming to protect their profits, and politicians wanting to avoid socialism and

massive government regulation.

I do not see a correlation between health spending and health outcomes. Some countries,

like the United States, spend a lot of money on healthcare and only have a moderate live

expectancy, while other countries such as Japan spend much less money on healthcare and have

a much better life expectancy. Then there are also countries like China that spend very little on

healthcare and have lower life expectancies than most other developed nations. This is because

health outcomes are influenced by more than just health spending. Just because a country spends

the most money on healthcare doesn’t mean that it is going to have the best health outcomes. The

United States is the best example of this. Although America spends more money on healthcare

than any other country in the world, its health outcomes are worse than other developed nations

such as Japan, Australia, Germany, Canada, and the United Kingdom. This is because healthcare

is the United States is more profit and individual based, while healthcare in most other developed

nations is more community-based. Healthcare in the U.S. is mainly driven by insurance agencies

and pharmaceutical companies looking to make a profit, while healthcare in most other

developed countries is provided universally through taxes. Although the Affordable Care Act

was put in place in order to make healthcare less expensive for Americans, it does not go far

enough. With healthcare and medicine being so expensive in the United States, only the wealthy

and the upper-middle class could comfortably afford them, while the shrinking middle class

struggle to make ends meet and the poorer classes are barely able to afford healthcare and

medicine. In some situations, families and individuals in the lower middle class or poorer classes

have to choose between paying for healthcare, rent, or food, and most people end up choosing

the latter options. Also, some younger, healthier individuals choose not to get health insurance

because they think that they don’t need it because they are young and healthy. However, when
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all of the people who choose not to get health insurance get sick or injured, they accumulate

large medical costs due to expensive hospital services such as ER visits, and expensive

prescription orders, and it then becomes harder for them to afford health insurance because they

now have a pre-existing condition of already being sick or injured. Then they could get stressed

out and have a higher chance of suffering more health problems related to stress, such as high

blood pressure or heart disease. In America, most of its healthcare spending goes towards

insurance agencies and pharmaceutical companies while hospitals need to charge large expenses

for their services in order to stay in business, while in most other developed nations, revenue for

healthcare spending comes in the form of taxes from their citizens, and that revenue goes directly

to the hospitals so those hospitals could afford to provide quality care to its patients free of

charge. This results in better health outcomes for people in these developed countries because

they have access to quality healthcare when they need it and they do not need to stress out about

paying large, sudden medical costs.

I learned that there is no a correlation between health spending and health outcomes and

that health outcomes are influenced by more factors than just health spending. From the data, I

saw that although America spends the most money on healthcare, it has a lower life expectancy

than developed countries such as Japan and Australia. I also saw that China spends relatively low

amounts of money on healthcare, but has a noticeably lower life expectancy than the developed

countries that spend more on healthcare. I have realized that where health spending is directed is

very important in determining health outcomes. If health spending is directed towards third

parties such as insurance agencies and pharmaceutical companies that are more concerned with

making a profit, the hospitals would need to raise the costs of their service in order to stay in

business, and people end up having to choose between paying high medical costs without

insurance, or paying for insurance that has become more difficult to afford. Either way, it causes
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some people to delay getting insurance or medication because of the massive costs, then when

they do get sick or injured, they are very ill and need to stay longer in the hospital, which raises

medical costs even more, and reduces health outcomes due to some people being unable to afford

those expenses. However, if health spending is directed towards hospitals and health education,

then hospitals would be able to afford to care for patients for free and people would learn to

make better health choices and be less likely to need to go to the hospital in the first place. I was

surprised that the maternal and infant mortality rates in China were so high in comparison to the

other developed countries. From the data, I learned that China does not spend much money on

healthcare, but I do not know whether that is the only reason for China’s high maternal and

infant mortality rates or whether it is because of other factors such as pollution.

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Works Cited

United Nations Development Programme. (2013). Human Development Reports: Expenditure

on health, total (% of GDP). [Data File]. Retrieved from

http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/expenditure-health-total-gdp.

United Nations Development Programme. (2013). Human Development Reports: Maternal

Mortality Ratio (deaths per 100,000 live births). [Data File]. Retrieved from

http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/maternal-mortality-ratio-deaths-100000-live-births.

United Nations Development Programme. (2015). Human Development Reports: Table 1:

Human Development Index and its Components. [Data File]. Retrieved from

http://hdr.undp.org/en/composite/HDI.

United Nations Development Programme. (2013). Human Development Reports: Under-five

mortality rate (per 1,000 live births). [Data File]. Retrieved from

http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/under-five-mortality-rate-1000-live-births.