Does More Money = Better Health? 🤔💰
Quick question before we dive in: If I told you Country A spends $12,000 per person on healthcare while Country B spends $6,000, which country do you think has healthier, happier citizens living longer lives?
If you picked Country A... WRONG! (Don't worry, America's entire policy apparatus got this wrong too.)
Here's the plot twist that made my MBA brain short-circuit: The United States spends more on healthcare per person than literally any other developed nation—over $12,000 annually, roughly double what most comparable countries spend. We have the world's highest GDP. By every metric business schools worship, we should be crushing it in the health department, right? Instead, we're getting schooled by Slovenia in life expectancy. Trailing Chile in healthy life years. Edged out by Costa Rica in overall wellbeing—a country spending a fraction of our healthcare budget. It's like spending twice as much on a gym membership and ending up less fit than your friend who does free YouTube workouts. The math isn't mathing.
Here's why: We're measuring economic activity (how many dollars change hands) instead of actual outcomes (are people healthy and happy?). GDP counts a billion dollars spent on chemotherapy the same as a billion spent on preventing disease in the first place. Both boost the economy identically, but one keeps you healthy while the other manages your decline. Meanwhile, other countries figured out decades ago that maybe—just maybe—we should measure things that actually matter. Like health-adjusted life expectancy (not just how long you survive, but how many of those years you're actually healthy). Or disability-adjusted life years (because living to 85 while bedridden for the last 15 isn't the same as living actively to 80). Or—wild concept—actual happiness metrics that ask people if their lives are, you know, good.
Your Turn! 👇
I want to know: If you could redesign how we measure a country's success, what would you include in the formula?
Vote by commenting below:
🏥 A) Healthcare outcomes (not spending, but actual health)
😊 B) Happiness & life satisfaction
💼 C) Work-life balance
🏡 D) Housing affordability
🌍 E) Environmental quality
🤝 F) Community & social support
💰 G) All of the above because why are we choosing?!
Bonus challenge: Tell me one thing your country does well that doesn't show up in GDP numbers but absolutely improves quality of life. (I'll start: NYC's free parks are health interventions disguised as green space, and GDP doesn't capture that value at all.)
Let's crowdsource a better scorecard in the comments! 👇✨
P.S. If you're curious about the actual data behind this (spoiler: it's even more damning), drop a 👀 emoji and I'll share the full country comparison charts. Prepare to be shocked by who's beating us and what they're doing differently.
