Health Care Spending Gone Wild

¿How do you think U.S. per capita spending on health care compares to other wealthy countries?

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Peter G. Peterson Foundation 2014

1. How accurate was your prediction?

2. What most surprised you about this chart?

3. What does the chart tell you about health care spending across the wealthy world?

4. Why do you think the US spends so much more than other countries?

5. What is one consequence of the US spending so much on health care per capita?

6. What would be some good ways to measure the success of US health care?*

7. Let's play the metaphor game. Based on health care spending, what kind of car is the US health care system?

8. What do you think the US government could do to lower health care costs?

9. Based on our high per capita spending, what expectations would you have about the health care outcomes in the US compared to other wealthy countries? Leave your response in the comments section:

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Learning Extension

Read this fascinating PBS interview about why US health care costs are so much higher than other members of the OECD**.

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Action Extension

Read this report by the Commonwealth Fund about ways to lower American health care costs and contact President Barack Obama with suggestions of what the US government can do to make the US health care system better OR find out what the leading presidential candidates (below) have to say about health care and contact them with your suggestions about lowering health care costs:

• Carson

• Cruz

• Kasich

• Rubio

• Trump

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• Clinton

• Sanders

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• Stein (Green Party)

• Johnson (Libertarian)

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*We'll learn in later infographics about US health care outcomes, relative to other wealthy countries.

**The OECD is the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development - a group of the world's most economically advanced nations.