U.S. Health in International Perspective: Shorter Lives, Poorer Health - Assignment Example

Section DEJ Assignment (U.S. Health in International Perspective Shorter Lives, Poorer Health) Page in text (APA citation) From the textMy reflections“The United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world, but it is far from the healthiest.”The beginning of this article is quite alarming and surprising. The author pays our attention on such important factor as the health of the United State nation. It is quite important as mental and physical health of the population affect overall quality of life of the country.

Also, this sentence forces us to think what are the main reasons of such decreased level of health in the highly developed country that has the world`s largest national economy. As I know United States refers to the country with the highest obesity rate. I supposed that this factor plays a crucial role in the total health of the US nation as obesity can provoke different serious medical conditions. For instance, the statistic from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that approximately 78.

6 million of adults in the United States are obese that is 34.9%. Hence, the first sentence briefly describes the current complicated situation with the health of the US citizens. (CDC,2014)“This health disadvantage prevails even though the United States spends far more per person on health care than any other nation.” This sentence is quite confusing as it makes us to think why the increasingly expensive health care system in the US compared to the any other nation cannot reduce or decrease the health disadvantages.

The statistical data provides evidence for increasingly high cost of the health care. The US spends approximately 16% of its GDP on health care that is 7,000$ annually per person on a per head basis. During the period from 1994 to 2005 the average cost of the health care in per capita increased by 3,8% per year that is two times higher than in peer countries. For example, in Germany during the same period of time an average annual spending per capita was 1,8%. Nowadays the US remains the highest – spending country in the health care.

(Maxwell J,2010) Therefore, further investigation required to detect the factors that increase the US health care costs.“The U.S. health disadvantage cannot be fully explained by the health disparities that exist among people who are uninsured or poor, as important as these issues are.”The main question that I have after reading of this sentence is: “Why availability of the health insurance among the majority of the US citizens does not improve their health rate?” For example, accordingly to the 2006 report from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention the recent immigrants to the United States were far healthier compared to the US – born counterparts despite absence of the health insurance and decreased access to the expensive health care.

Also, the research found that African, Asian and Hispanic immigrants that have been stayed in the country for a long period of time become less healthy. With each passing year the predisposition of the US immigrants to the obesity, cardiovascular diseases and high blood pressure was increased. Hence, the reason of health problems in the United States may be connected with the diets and lifestyle in the country. (John Robbins, 2012)“U.S. communities and the built environment are more likely than those in peer countries to be designed around automobiles, and this may discourage physical activity and contribute to obesity.

”This sentence provides an evidence that unhealthy lifestyle may be one of the reasons of the US health disadvantages. As we know physical activity is quite important for our health. While sedentary life style still remains a huge public problem in the US that can impair the overall health of the country. For example, the researchers have proved that sedentary behavior has a negative impact on a brain function. The other negative influence of sedentary lifestyle is obesity. Therefore, creation of public environment that promote and maintain physical activity through the development of open public places for safe physical activities is quite an effective way to impair the health of the US citizens.

(CDC,2014)“Public health leaders have already identified many promising strategies to address these problems, and the nation has adopted detailed health objectives aimed at their implementation.”This is a quite promising sentence that proved that the current problem with the total health of the US citizens can be fixed through appropriate actions of the health care system. I think that it is quite important to make the lifestyle of the US citizens healthier. For instance, the formation of the appropriate community environment that promotes and maintains healthy food and beverage intake may be one of possible actions that will have positive effects on the total health of the US citizens.

( John Robbins,2012) References:1. CDC.(2014).Overweight and obesity. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Online. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html2. Maxwell J.(2010). Why Does Health Care Cost So Much? The Doctor Online. Retrieved from http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/content/healthcare/art2809.html3. John Robbins. (2012). Healthy at 100. Google books Online. Retrieved from https://books.google.com.ua/books?id=9SrWPKB2q7MC&printsec=frontcover&dq=john+robbins+healthy+at+100&hl=ru&sa=X&ei=3pkpVafDL4u6Ue2qg_gD&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=john%20robbins%20healthy%20at%20100&f=false