Hospitals are great for emergencies and life saving procedures, but not so great when it comes to chronic diseases or things like unexplained vertigo. And of course as the holidays are approaching senior staff is probably off on vacation.
U.S. expectancy in 2011 was 78.7 years, which is slightly below the OECD average of 80.1. For U.S. men, the average life expectancy is 76, while it's 81 for U.S. women. (At five years, this gap in life expectancy between men and women is smaller than the OECD average of six years). The U.S. life expectancy comes in just behind Slovenia, at 80.1 years, and Denmark, at 79.9 years.
The gap between male and female life expectancy is greater in high-income countries where women live around six years longer than men. In low-income countries, the difference is around three years. Women in Japan have the longest life expectancy in the world at 87 years, followed by Spain, Switzerland and Singapore. Female life expectancy in all the top 10 countries was 84 years or longer. Life expectancy among men is 80 years or more in nine countries, with the longest male life expectancy in Iceland, Switzerland and Australia.