U.S. Life Expectancy
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I–VT) claims that the United States needs “Medicare for All” because the U.S. has a “lower life expectancy than every other major country on earth.”
IN FACT, the same argument was used to support Obamacare, and U.S. life expectancy stagnated in its wake, the only time this occurred in the prior half century. Association ≠ causation, and the following facts show that Sanders’ statement is both simplistic and false:
- Per the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, health outcomes are “not only related to health spending and the performance of health systems, but also to a wide range of non-medical determinants of health.”
- A study published in 2016 by the Mayo Clinic Proceedings found that only 3% of U.S. adults have all 4 characteristics of a healthy lifestyle, including (1) a healthy diet, (2) a normal body fat percentage (5-20% for men and 8-30% for women), (3) sufficient physical activity, and (4) not smoking.
- The portion of U.S. adults who get sufficient weekly exercise is lower than the average and the median of developed countries.
- The death rate from non-health causes (like accidents, suicides, and assaults) in the U.S. is 78% higher than the average for developed countries.
- Cancer survival rates — which reflect how effectively healthcare systems provide early detection and treatment — are higher in the U.S. than the average and median of developed countries for three out of four common types of cancer.
- In India, a “major” nation that is the most populous in the world, the average life expectancy is 72 years, or six years lower than the U.S. average of 78.4 years.
