Such a relationship also exists between life expectancy and health expenditure. The United States stands out as having both high GDP and health expenditure per capita, but a lower level of overall life expectancy than might be expected. High rates of mortality for some diseases at older ages, the legacy of smoking, and other factors such as obesity and economic inequality have been suggested as possible reasons for the United States’ poorer performance (Crimmins et al., One recent study found that high rates of obesity, tobacco use and other preventable risk factors for an early death are important drivers of the gap between life expectancy in the United States and that in other countries (Kulkami et al.,