Background: Health outcomes differ between countries, even in a relatively homogenous area such as the European Union. Research has been inconclusive about the explanation of this heterogeneity in health outcomes. Our study contributes to the literature by analyzing the impact of health financing and economic, behavioral and country-specific characteristics on health outcomes in EU member states. Methods: This study is based on macro-level EU panel data covering the period from 2000 to 2018. The association between health outcomes and explanatory variables is analyzed by random-effects and fixed-country effects regression models. To address the endogeneity problem of health expenditure, instrumental variables are applied. Life expectancy and infant mortality are used as outputs, and a vector of independent variables is used as inputs. Results: The explanatory variables included in this study are more associated with infant mortality rather than with life expectancy. The impact of the explanatory variables on life expectancy appears to be only marginal. Public health expenditure, the number of physicians, consumption of fruit and vegetables, the decentralization of the health system, and fixed-country effects are the main determinants of both life expectancy and infant mortality. Conclusions: Health status differences Results from complex and often intertwined processes. Increasing public health expenditure is not sufficient to achieve better health outcomes. Such increases must be complemented by giving more importance to the promotion of healthy lifestyles, improved education and additional human resources to sustain health services.