Life expectancy in the United States fares poorly in international comparisons, primarily because of high mortality rates above age 50. Its low ranking is often blamed on a poor performance by the health care system rather than on behavioral or social factors. This paper presents evidence on the relative performance of the US health care system using death avoidance as the sole criterion. We find that, by standards of OECD countries, the US does well in terms of screening for cancer, survival rates from cancer, survival rates after heart attacks and strokes, and medication of individuals with high levels of blood pressure or cholesterol. We consider in greater depth mortality from prostate cancer and breast cancer, diseases for which effective methods of identification and treatment have been developed and where behavioral factors do not play a dominant role. We show that the US has had significantly faster declines in mortality from these two diseases than comparison countries. We conclude that the low longevity ranking of the United States is not likely to be a result of a poorly functioning health care system.
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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number
15213.
Length: Date of creation: Aug 2009 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15213
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Find related papers by JEL classification: I0 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - General I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Production I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends and Forecasts J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy
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