Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> Anyone have the ranking of what the different countries spend on health 
> care? We may be #42 on the infant mortality chart but I'll bet we are 
> close to #1 on the dollars spent... Pay for a first class system and get a 
> 42nd...

Health Care Spending: Large Differences, Unequal Results

Global inequality in health care spending is large. As the chart of health 
care spending per person shows (below), the countries in the highest 
quintile (20%) spend more than 16 times the amount spent by the lowest 
quintile. The highest 5% of the countries spend 4492% of the lowest 
quintile. This is after adjusting the per capita spending rates to 
international dollars (to account for Purchasing Power Parity), and 
includes both government and personal expenditures
Money Alone Does Not Extend Lives

Despite the wide gaps, higher spending on health care does not necessarily 
prolong lives. In 2000, theUnited States spent more on health care than any 
other country in the world: an average of $ 4,500 per person. Switzerland 
was second highest, at $3,300 or 71% of the US. Nevertheless, average US 
life expectancy ranks 27th in the world, at 77 years. Many countries 
achieve higher life expectancy rates with significantly lower spending. The 
chart below shows the top 30 countries in the world ranked by life 
expectancy. The red line indicates per-capita health expenditure (right 
axis), and shows that many countries outperform the US with approximately 
half the spending.

Charts and more at:
http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/spend.php