Keywords

health care spending gap, obesity, OECD, population differences, quality-of-life spending

Authors

1. Paul, David P. III DDS, PhD
2. Babitsky, David R. MBA
3. Chandra, Ashish PhD

Abstract

Comparisons of health care spending between the United States and the rest of the world are frequently made. This article examines macrolevel secondary data comparing health care spending in the United States and other OECD countries, but this comparison does not necessarily present a complete picture. This article puts the US OECD health care spending gap into better context by examining the implications of population differences, quality-of-life spending, obesity trends, and defensive medicine and their contribution to US health care costs.