About American Health Care Statistics

The American health care system is one of the most expensive in the world, according to the World Health Organization, and the United States is the only wealthy, industrialized nation that does not have a universal health care system in place, according to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

Overweight and Obesity

• According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, two-thirds of American adults are either overweight or obese. Over 72 million Americans are obese, or 33 percent of the population, as of 2009. A 2009 study conducted by the CDC and RTI International found that the economic cost of obesity in the U.S. in 2008 was $147 billion per year Obesity leads to health consequences such as heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, cancer, hypertension, high cholesterol, stroke, sleep problems, liver disease and arthritis.

Life Expectancy

• According to the CIA Factbook, in 2008 life expectancy in the United States averaged 78 years. This life expectancy number ranked 47th in the world.

Health Insurance

• According to the CDC, the number of Americans under 65 years old without health insurance in 2008 was 43.6 million, 17 percent of the total population. 65 percent of of these individuals had private health insurance. In 2008, 20 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 64 were uninsured; 68 percent of this group had private health insurance; and 13 percent of these individuals were insured through a public health plan. For children under the age of 18, 9 percent were uninsured as of 2008; 58 percent had private health insurance; and 34 percent were on a public health plan.

Exercise

• As of 2008, 32.5 percent of adults in the U.S. participated in regular leisure-time physical activity, and 36 percent of adults did not engage in any physical activity. Females are more likely than males to get regular exercise, and the majority of Americans do not engage in any vigorous physical activity.

Health Care Costs

• According to the National Center for Health Statistics, out of all health care costs in America in 2005, 36 percent were paid by private health insurance; 35 percent were paid by the federal government; 11 percent were paid by state and local governments; and 15 percent were paid by out-of-pocket payments. The U.S. spends twice as much on health care costs per person than any other country, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, and 75 percent of all health care costs are spent on patients with chronic, preventable conditions such as diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure.