Compared to other developed nations, the United States healthcare system produces worse health outcomes for its citizens even though it spends the most amount of spending on the healthcare. Health outcomes measure the length and quality of life for the people. Health outcomes are measured in the average life expectancy as well as other metrics like the infant mortality rate and types of diseases that are endemic a country. And so we look to the social institutions that set up the structure for cultural behavior and the responses to the problems it may face in order to see why America fares so poorly. Our main focus is with the medical institution and the inequality that is built within the system. This allows us to see the health disparities that exist for different countries due to their social characteristics. We will examine the health care industry and how that affects a countries’ health outcomes. …show more content…
I would like to see why this is the case and understand how inequality is created in the healthcare field. This inequality has continued to sustain itself in the past 100 years and produces large differences in health outcomes between people. Part of the answer lies in what we as a society value and do not value. Looking at structure shows us the value a country places on healthcare and we see that in the United States, it is highly capitalistic and economic based. The United States is unique in that it is the biggest spender on healthcare yet other countries have better health outcomes according to the commonwealth fund (Davis, Stremikis, Schoen, Squires,