Despite spending 18% of GDP on healthcare, or $9,356/person, Americans are falling behind other countries in overall health. In 1990, US life expectancy was 75.2, by 2010 it was 78.2, yet the US ranking fell from 20th to 27th. Worse, from 1990 through 2010, the average number of years Americans live with chronic disease rose from 9.4 to 10.1, causing the US to fall from 14th to 26th.
Tag Archives: life expectancy
Boomer Medicare
Booming Medicare When Medicare was introduced in 1965, woman 65 had, on average, 18 more years of life, men, 13.5. Today, those numbers are 21 and 19 respectively. In 1980, Medicare consumed 5% of federal spending; now it’s 13.5%. Raising the Medicare age to 67 cuts Medicare spending by $148 billion, it trims government spending by just $113 billion due to increased subsidies to the elderly for Medicaid and exchange purchased insurance.