I was born an American; I live an American; I shall die an American.
- Daniel Webster
James Brown - Living in America
"Dying Expensively: Why Living in the U.S. Makes No Sense Anymore"
An unfiltered look at America’s health crisis, addiction to profit, and political sabotage of public well-being
Welcome to the United States of America, where you can die young, broke, and in pain—while still paying more for health care than anyone else on the planet.
The numbers are in, and they’re damning:
Despite spending over 16% of its GDP on health care—more than any other country in the world—the U.S. has one of the lowest life expectancies among developed nations.
In 2021, the average American could expect to live only 76.4 years, compared to 83.9 years in Switzerland or 80.8 in Germany. That puts Americans on par with Colombians and Mexicans, countries with dramatically smaller health budgets and weaker economies.
This is not just bad management. This is a national policy failure so profound, so embedded, and so profitable to the right people that it borders on criminal negligence.
The Most Expensive Way to Die Young
Let’s break this down. According to OECD data, the U.S. is hemorrhaging wealth into a health system that does not keep people alive. Instead, it allows them to die in avoidable, preventable ways:
336 avoidable deaths per 100,000 people in the U.S.
133 in Switzerland.
195 in Germany.
These aren’t old people dying peacefully in hospice. These are avoidable early deaths—
people under 75 dying from things that could have been treated or prevented with basic public health measures.
Dying from drug overdoses, car crashes, gunshot wounds, preventable cancers, heart disease. Dying not because medicine failed, but because society failed.
Four Horsemen of the American Health Apocalypse
Car Crashes
Americans die in traffic accidents at five times the rate of the Swiss. Why? More driving. Heavier cars. Crumbling infrastructure. Laughable enforcement of traffic laws. If you’ve driven in a U.S. city lately, you know: rules are optional, roads are a disaster, and pedestrians are cannon fodder.
Fentanyl
Over 100,000 overdose deaths per year—the direct result of the U.S.’s inability (or refusal) to regulate opioids until it was far too late. Now, the synthetic opioid fentanyl kills indiscriminately, faster than any street drug in modern history. The one ray of light? Wider access to Naloxone, the overdose-reversing drug. But that only exists because citizen activists forced the issue, not because the government gave a damn.Guns
Nearly 50,000 Americans died from gun injuries in 2023—58% by suicide, 38% murdered. The U.S. is the only country where guns outnumber people. The so-called “freedom” to own a weapon has mutated into a national suicide pact.Lifestyle Diseases
Americans are more obese, less active, and more chronically ill than their European counterparts. Diabetes, heart failure, liver disease—these kill tens of thousands every year. Why? Because healthy food is unaffordable, public transportation is a joke, and corporate marketing has weaponized addiction to sugar, fat, and screen time. Welcome to the land of food deserts and sedentary despair.
Deaths of Despair: The Real American Dream
Economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton famously coined the term “Deaths of Despair” to describe America’s epidemic of early mortality among white, working-class men without college degrees—a demographic crushed by job loss, hopelessness, addiction, and social collapse.
But since then, despair has gone viral. Suicides. Alcoholism. Chronic illness. Mental breakdowns.
These are the predictable outcomes of a society that refuses to care for its people.
A Health System Designed to Kill Hope
If all this sounds like a failed state in disguise, it is. The U.S. health care system is not broken—it is working exactly as designed:
Outrageous prices for medicine and care.
Zero transparency in pricing—patients don’t even know what they'll pay.
A byzantine network of insurers, providers, middlemen, and lobbyists.
A system where dermatologists earn more than surgeons—if they play the insurance billing game right.
Even those lucky enough to have insurance can fall through the cracks. A teenager with a rare disease might be covered under Medicaid—until their 18th birthday, when coverage ends and they die waiting for a bureaucratic miracle.
These aren’t “glitches.” These are the core features of a privatized death machine.
Who Deserves to Live?
Americans are deeply divided—not just politically, but morally. A majority agrees that the state should help those who are sick through no fault of their own.
But the moment someone is perceived to have “caused” their own poverty or illness, that empathy evaporates.
Republicans in Congress have made this contempt law: Their latest budget proposal demands that all Medicaid recipients prove they work 80 hours a month—a bureaucratic nightmare designed to punish the vulnerable.
Never mind that many sick people can’t meet these requirements, or that the paperwork itself drives people off the rolls. The cruelty is the point.
This is how America rationalizes denying care: by blaming the patient.
Reform Is a Dead Letter
Every time someone proposes a universal public health system—even a basic national insurance plan—it’s dismissed as “socialism.”
Meanwhile, entrenched interests (insurance companies, hospitals, Big Pharma) rake in billions. They understand the system. They own the system. Patients are just collateral damage.
Case in point: A New York Times exposé recently revealed that Medicare spent $10 billion on overpriced wound dressings in just three years. Why?
Because vendors can charge anything they want for six months after launching a new product. So they just launch a new one every six months. Legalized looting.
This Isn’t a System. It’s a Crime Scene.
The United States health system isn’t just failing. It’s extracting wealth from the sick and dying and funneling it into the pockets of CEOs, lobbyists, and stockholders.
It is a Ponzi scheme of suffering, a casino where the house always wins, and the players bleed out.
And let’s be clear: under the current administration, any shred of regulatory backbone has been shredded.
From environmental safety to food regulation to pandemic readiness, the gutting of public institutions has made living in America a gamble most can’t afford.
So, here’s the truth:
Living in the U.S. no longer makes sense—unless you’re rich enough to buy your way out of it.
The country has abandoned its citizens to a death economy that rewards corruption, punishes the sick, and sabotages reform at every level.
Welcome to the land of the free. Just don’t get sick.
Sources:
OECD Health Statistics 2021
CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker
"Deaths of Despair" – Case & Deaton
Small Arms Survey
New York Times (Medicare Fraud Exposé)
“We’ve Got You Covered” – Amy Finkelstein & Liran Einav
