The United States spends nearly twice as much per person on healthcare as other wealthy countries, yet US life expectancy was 79 years in 2024, compared with 83 years across peer nations. But the problem isn't simply that the United States spends more. Every healthcare system makes trade-offs among affordability, access, outcomes, choice, and innovation. The question is whether we're honest about the choices we're making and what we're willing to give up.

For her final episode of Radio Advisory, Rachel (Rae) Woods takes the conversation live to Advisory Board's Chicago Summit with Aaron Carroll, president and CEO of AcademyHealth, pediatrician, and health services researcher. They use international healthcare systems not as blueprints, but as mirrors for the choices facing US healthcare leaders. They explore why higher spending hasn't consistently delivered better access or outcomes, what the United States has implicitly chosen to prioritize, and how leaders can stop promising everything at once and make the trade-offs inside their own organizations more intentional, transparent, and explainable.

We’re here to help:

• Episode | 310: Finding margin in providers' new policy reality
• Webinars | Global trends in healthcare, part 1 and Global trends in healthcare, part 2
• Webinar | After election day: What's next for healthcare policy?
• Report | The health plan leader’s framework for clinical cost management
• Expert Insight | 5 forces driving healthcare's next chapter
• AcademyHealth | AcademyHealth
• Healthcare Triage
• @aaronecarroll.bsky.social — Bluesky

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A transcript of this episode as well as more information and resources can be found on RadioAdvisory.advisory.com.