U.S. Women’s Life Expectancy and Access to Affordable Health Care Trail Other Countries
Women in the U.S. face significantly worse health outcomes and access to care than those in other countries, with notable access disparities among Black and Hispanic women, a new Commonwealth Fund study finds.
Health Care for Women: How the U.S. Compares Internationally reveals how the U.S. performs against other countries across a variety of critical measures such as life expectancy, avoidable deaths, rates of illness, and mental health.
Among the key findings:
*American women have the lowest life expectancy and the highest rate of avoidable deaths — more than triple the rate in Japan and Korea.
*More than a quarter of women in the U.S. take four or more prescription medications regularly, compared to fewer than one in 10 women in Germany.
*The U.S. is the only high-income nation where a considerable percentage of women are uninsured, including over a quarter of Hispanic women.
Despite the discouraging data, the report notes policymakers have a number of options that could greatly improve women’s health and health care in the United States.