America’s Unsustainable Healthcare System

According to the Sustainable Development Unit, “A sustainable health and care system are achieved by delivering high-quality care and improved public health without exhausting natural resources or causing severe ecological damage.” While there is an increasing interest in sustainable health, healthcare in the United States is not currently sustainable in terms of economic, environmental, or social factors.

One goal of sustainable health is to make healthcare more cost-effective while also improving health outcomes. The United States spends almost 20% of its national GDP on health care, spending over $10,000 per person per year, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. However,  despite higher per capita spending than any other nation, the US has the worst-rated health care system of developed nations, ranking 11 out of 11 according to the Commonwealth Fund. In 2010, a panel at the Institute of Medicine in Washington D.C. estimated that the U.S healthcare system wastes $765 billion a year, which is about 30% of the total money spent on health. This inefficiency means that healthcare is less affordable and also has negative environmental consequences.

While corporations tend to get the bulk of the blame from environmentalists, the healthcare sector uses great amounts of energy and generates large amounts of waste. A 2016 Yale study in PLOS ONE sought to quantify the emissions resulting from the health sector and determined that the healthcare sector is responsible for 9.8% of the United States’ total greenhouse gas emissions. These values are greater than the emissions from the entire United Kingdom and the healthcare sector would be the 13th biggest contributor of greenhouse gases in the world if it were a country.

Some of the biggest environmental issues in the healthcare sector are energy use, toxic chemicals, and waste. Healthcare is a notorious waste producer, having lots of single-use medical instruments and protective items. One way for the healthcare system to decrease its carbon footprint is to focus on sustainable products, both in how these products are manufactured and how they are used. Making biodegradable protective equipment and reusing and re-sterilizing tools can help mitigate medical waste. Another way to reduce waste is to make sure that medications are not over-prescribed. While it is easy to blame the doctors and administrators for these wastes, there is a cultural belief in the United States that more care always represents better care. Reducing energy use and waste is not only better for the environment but can help cut down on healthcare costs, allowing more money to go towards patient care.

Perhaps most importantly, sustainable health is about promoting better lives for entire communities as well as future generations. Healthcare in the U.S. typically focuses on treating illness over preventing

illness. Sustainable healthcare is a more holistic approach to healthcare that emphasizes population health and promotes preventative practices. Issues of preventative medicine are especially important given the high rate of chronic illnesses that are highly preventable. It’s more cost effective and better for the environment and people to prevent diseases rather than treat them.

Finally, sustainable health is important because climate change itself is an existential threat. A 2009 Lancet article declared that “climate change is the biggest global health threat of the 21st century.” As temperatures rise, people are at risk for heat-related illness and death, extreme weather events can also injure or kill, and pollution can increase respiratory disease, to name a few of the risks. Because of the environmental, economic and health consequences, finding a way towards sustainable health is a worldwide priority.

Contributed by Caroline Gold.