USA! USA! USA! Exceptional America is #1 once again… oh wait!
Why does America spend 35% to 90% more per capita than all other developed countries?
There are numerous reasons, as Michael Snyder explains, if you have a health problem, even if it is just an imaginary one, some giant pharmaceutical company out there is probably making a pill for it. According to shocking new research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 59 percent of all U.S. adults are on at least one prescription drug, and 15 percent of all U.S. adults are on at least five prescription drugs.These numbers have never been higher, and they tell us that the United States is the most drugged nation on the entire planet.And it turns out that pushing these drugs on the American people is extremely profitable.For instance, Americans spent 100 billion dollars on cancer drugs alone last year.That isn’t “million” with an “m” – that is “billion” with a “b”.The profits that some of these pharmaceutical companies are making are absolutely obscene, and it is our pain and suffering that is making them rich.
So why is prescription drug use rising so rapidly?As noted above, 15 percent of us are now taking 5 or more of these drugs on a regular basis, but back in 1999 that number was sitting at just 8.2 percent.
This newly released report blames much of the problem on obesity…
The population is getting older, but that doesn’t explain it, Kantor said. The pattern looks more related to obesity, which is steadily rising, More than two-thirds of the adult U.S. population is overweight or obese, and many suffer the heart disease, diabetes and other metabolic disorders that go along with being too heavy.
And without a doubt, we have an epidemic of obesity in the United States.
But the truth is that obesity is only part of the story.
Drug use of all types is soaring, and commercials for the latest and greatest drugs seem to run around the clock on virtually every television network.Here are some more specific numbers from this newly released report…
