Community Public Health Nursing

More money is spent per capita for health care in the United States than in any other country ($8400 in 2010). However, many countries have far better indices of health, including traditional indicators such as infant mortality rates and longevity for both men and women than does the United States. The United States is one of the few industrialized countries in the world that lacks a program of national health services or national health insurance. Although the United States spent 17.9% of its gross domestic product on health care expenditures in 2010, a record high of $2.6 trillion, before full implementation of the Affordable Care Act, nearly 18.0% of the population had no health care coverage. The greater the proportion of money put into health care expenditures in the United States, the less money there is to improve education, jobs, housing, and nutrition. Over the years, the greatest improvements in the health of the population have been achieved through advances in public health using organized community efforts, such as improvements in sanitation, immunizations, and food quality and quantity. The greatest determinants of health are still equated with factors in the community, such as education, employment, housing, and nutrition. Although access to health care services and individual behavioral changes are important, they are only components of the larger determinants of health, such as social and physical environments.