US Health Care Spending Began to Diverge from Everyone Else In the 1970s, not 1980s

Austin Frakt had an interesting NYT Upshot piece noting that the US leads the world in health care spending per capita, but badly trails most other wealthy countries in life expectancy. He notes this divergence began in 1980.

While that is true in terms of life expectancy, the divergence in spending actually began in the 1970s. According to the OECD, the United States was near, but not at the top, in terms of health care spending as a share of GDP. Both Canada and Denmark devoted a larger sha...