U.S. spends most on health care but has worst health outcomes: report

An ambulance is seen outside Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago in Chicago, the United States, on Dec. 12, 2022. (Photo by Joel Lerner/Xinhua)

To catch up with other high-income countries, the administration and Congress would have to expand access to health care, act aggressively to control costs, and invest in health equity and social services we know can lead to a healthier population.

NEW YORK, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- The United States spends more on health care than any other high-income country but still has the lowest life expectancy at birth and the highest rate of people with multiple chronic diseases, CNN reported.

A report from The Commonwealth Fund, an independent research group, as quoted by CNN last week, said that compared with peer nations, the United States has the highest rates of deaths from avoidable or treatable causes and the highest maternal and infant death rates.

"Americans are living shorter, less healthy lives because our health system is not working as well as it could be," the report's lead author, Munira Gunja, senior researcher for The Commonwealth Fund's International Program in Health Policy and Practice Innovation, said in a news release.

"To catch up with other high-income countries, the administration and Congress would have to expand access to health care, act aggressively to control costs, and invest in health equity and social services we know can lead to a healthier population," Gunja was quoted as saying.

People in the United States see doctors less often than those in most other countries, and the United States is the only country among those studied that doesn't have universal health coverage, according to the report. In 2021 alone, 8.6 percent of the U.S. population was uninsured.