The United States has one of the highest per-capita rates of spending on health care in the world, yet our life expectancy at birth is among the lowest of all wealthy nations. But there’s more than these two variables in the equation.
I’ve long suspected that if the United States were able to eliminate deaths from just three external causes of injury and death — alcohol, drugs, and firearms — our life expectancy would look a lot more like other comparable countries.
In the fall of 2024, my team at the AAMC Research and Action Institute had the opportunity to do those analyses with my colleague, Megan Ranney, MD, MPH, FACEP, dean of the Yale School of Public Health.
See our thoughts on the findings, published in STAT.
As always, I welcome your feedback, advice, and insight.
Atul
