A coalition of the most advanced countries summed up what's wrong with America's healthcare system in 2 points

pulse

June 23, 2017 3:27 PM

Senate Republican leaders released a draft of their health care legislation on Thursday. A recent OECD report summed up America's biggest health challenges.

Mitch McConnell.

Beyond Republicans' sweeping attempt to overhaul the system, healthcare has been hotly debated in the US for years.

And it's not hard to see why:

1. Rising obesity and alcohol consumption

Obesity rates around the world are on the rise, but according to a comprehensive study published this year in the New England Journal of Medicine, they're rising faster and more significantly in the US than in any other country.

Some of the most notable issues plaguing the US healthcare system include its failure to properly treat people with chronic diseases like asthma and diabetes, its failure to provide coverage for low-income people and people of color, its dismal vaccination rates, and the soaring cost of life-saving drugs.

Americans with chronic diseases like asthma end up in the hospital more frequently than they do in other OECD countries. In most developed countries, chronic disease sufferers are more likely to receive the preventive medicine that would help stave off a potentially life-threatening scenario. They're also more likely to be treated by primary care doctors rather than having to have their problems addressed by emergency physicians.

While life expectancy in the US is still increasing, it is doing so at a slower pace than in many other developed countries. Life expectancy also varies significantly by skin color in America. In 2009, the average black American could expect to live to just 75, the same life expectancy white Americans enjoyed 30 years earlier in 1979. Today, black Americans remain far more likely than white Americans to die from cancer and diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In addition to these obstacles, Americans vaccinate their children at lower rates than many other developed countries, which can lead to outbreaks of diseases like measles and Hepatitis B.

Last, the US's life-saving pharmaceutical drugs cost a fortune. Unlike other countries, whose governments regularly haggle with drug companies to reduce drug prices, US Medicare is forbidden from engaging in such negotiations. As a result, Americans pay hundreds to thousands more for their medications than people in other countries pay for the exact same pills.

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