Study: U.S. health gains ‘mediocre’ over past 20 years

Although the U.S. has spent twice as much on medical care and made gains in life expectancy over the past 20 years, the nation fell behind other industrialized countries on nearly all major health metrics, according to a study published this week (Source: “State of U.S. health 'mediocre': report,” Reuters, July 10, 2013) 

The study, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that heart disease, lung cancer and stroke are the leading causes of premature death in the U.S.

"Despite a level of health expenditures that would have seemed unthinkable a generation ago, the health of the U.S. population has improved only gradually and has fallen behind the pace of progress in many other wealthy nations," Dr. Harvey Fineberg of the Institute of Medicine in Washington, D.C., wrote in an editorial published on Wednesday with the study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.