America spends more in total and per capita on health care than any other country. So why do we tend to have shorter lifespans than our peers?
New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that U.S. life expectancy hit a record 79 years in 2024. But a newborn in Germany can expect to live 80.6 years. In the United Kingdom, it’s 81.1 years. And in France, more than 83 years.
The conventional wisdom holds that other countries’ government-funded systems of universal coverage deserve credit for the longer lives their citizens enjoy. But life expectancy is a blunt instrument. It captures everything that shortens a life — from homicides to accidents — regardless of whether a health care system can realistically prevent them.
