The United States (US) has the most expensive health care system in the world. In spite of that, health care is of somewhat inconsistent in quality, and leads to poorer health outcomes relative to other, similar nations. For example, the United States has much higher infant mortality rates regardless of geographical focus. The result is that the US spends more per capita on health services than any other country in the world, but lags behind health indicators as life expectancy and infant mortality.
According to an article presented by Hummer (1993), concern over infant mortality differentials between African-Americans and Anglos persist. The African-American to Anglo infant mortality ratios were 1.6 in 1950,1.9 in 1960,2.0 in 1980, and about 2.2 by 1989. Additionally, the infant mortality rate among African Americans is not even close to meeting the 1990 goal of 12 deaths per 1,000 births that the U.S. Public Health Service set for all minority groups in 1979. Thus, despite overall reductions in infant mortality in the U.S. and much recent research and public attention devoted to the correlation between race and infant mortality, the pressing problems of the high rate of infant mortality among African Americans and large differentials between racial groups persist.
Hummer, R. A. (1993). Racial Differentials in Infant Mortality in the U.S.: An Examination of Social and Health Determinants. Social Forces, 72(2), 528-554.
