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HEALTH
The American life expectancy of 77.8 years at birth is a year shorter than
the overall figure in Western Europe, and three to four years lower than that of
Norway and Switzerland. Over the past two decades, the country's rank in life
expectancy has dropped from 11th to 42nd place in the world. The infant
mortality rate of 6.37 per thousand likewise places the United States 42nd out
of 221 countries, behind all of Western Europe. Approximately one-third of the
adult population is obese and an additional third is overweight; the obesity
rate, the highest in the industrialized world, has more than doubled in the last
quarter-century. Obesity-related type 2 diabetes is considered epidemic by
healthcare professionals. The U.S. adolescent pregnancy rate, 79.8 per 1,000
women, is nearly four times that of France and five times that of Germany.
Abortion in the United States, legal on demand, is a source of great political
controversy. Many states ban public funding of the procedure and have laws to
restrict late-term abortions, require parental notification for minors, and
mandate a waiting period prior to treatment. While the incidence of abortion is
in decline, the U.S. abortion ratio of 241 per 1,000 live births and abortion
rate of 15 per 1,000 women aged 15–44 remain higher than those of most Western
nations.
The United States healthcare system far outspends any other nation's,
measured in both per capita spending and percentage of GDP. Unlike most
developed countries, the U.S. healthcare system is not fully socialized, instead
relying on a mix of public and private funding. In 2004, private insurance paid
for 36% of personal health expenditure, private out-of-pocket payments covered
15%, and federal, state, and local governments paid for 44%. Medical bills are
the most common reason for personal bankruptcy in the United States. In 2005,
46.6 million Americans, or 15.9% of the population, were uninsured, 5.4 million
more than in 2001. The primary cause of the decline in coverage is the drop in
the number of Americans with employer-sponsored health insurance, which fell
from 62.6% in 2001 to 59.5% in 2005. Approximately one third of the uninsured
lived in households with annual incomes greater than $50,000, with half of those
having an income over $75,000. Another third were eligible but not registered
for public health insurance. In 2006, Massachusetts became the first state to
mandate health insurance; California is considering similar legislation.
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