We're #37! We're #37! Healthcare.

[LynnTheDem]

U.S. citizens realize less life expectancy than citizens of many other nations,

and the U.S. ranks only 37th in the world in quality health care -

yet nationally America spends 82% more per person on health care than others -

while U.S. federal and state governments spend more on health care than other governments.

http://mwhodges.home.att.net/healthcare.htm

[tatertop]

1. mind boggling

[laruemtt]

2. wow. these stats are pretty eye-opening

but not surprising. greatest country on earth? in what? military spending? anything else?

[Nutmegger]

4. Bu-bu-but wait...

We're bringing "freedom and democracy" to the middle east. So we must give up everything to make sure the mission is accomplished!

:sarcasm:

[LynnTheDem]

8. Well, USA is #1 for number of citizens per capita in prison.

And by the time enough Americans wake up to the real facts of this "great" country, it'll be too far gone to fix.

[Crazy Dave]

3. Self delete

Thought it read that the government spent more

[stevedeshazer]

5. I'm surprised it's that high

Of the 191-country ranking, here are the top 50:

* Top 10 quality care nations: France, Italy, San Marino, Andorra, Malta, Singapore, Spain, Oman, Austria, Japan.
* 2nd 10: Norway, Portugal, Monaco, Greece, Iceland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, England, Ireland, Switzerland.
* 3rd 10: Belgium, Columbia, Sweden, Cyprus, German, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Israel, Morocco, Canada.
* 4th ten: Finland, Australia, Chile, Denmark, Dominica, Costa Rica, United States, Slovenia, Cuba, Brunei.
* 5th ten: New Zealand, Bahrain, Crotia, Qatar, Kuwait, Barbados, Thailand, Czech Republic, Malaysia, Poland.

We beat Slovenia, though.

[stevedeshazer]

6. Wait. I forgot Poland! n/t

[Kindigger]

9. Slovenia

has a lower infant mortality rate

[hughee99]

10. Wait a minute...

We're only 7 behind Canada and AHEAD of Cuba? Can this be right? These seem to be the two countries most often held out as examples of how a proper healthcare system should run. Am I missing something?

[hunter]

15. What you are missing...

According to WHO 2002 annual figures

U.S. spends $5274 per capita, and 14.6% of its GDP on health care
Canada spends $2931, and 9.6% of its GDP
New Zealand spends $1857, and 8.5% of its GDP
Cuba spends $236, and 7.5% of its GDP

For similar results, we pay quite a bit more for our healthcare than other nations.

[hughee99]

16. I understand that part...

but regardless of price, I've quite often heard (and I hadn't investigated the data myself) that healthcare in Canada (and to a lesser extent Cuba) is far better than in the US. I was very suprised to see that this does not seem to be the case according to this information, anyway.

[hunter]

17. Depends here upon who you are and a bit of luck.

Any random citizen is more likely to get adequate medical care in Canada or Cuba, and there are far fewer financial worries to go along with that.

The problem in the United States is the false optimism that we won't be the ones to get pissed on. Middle class Americans don't expect to be bankrupted by medical problems, but it happens all of the time. Too many of us are living one paycheck away from poverty, and a major medical problem is often the straw that breaks the camel's back.

[leftchick]

7. Thanks Lynn!

I knew we sucked! :(

[0007]

11. "America spends 82% more per person on health care than others"

Something is indeed wrong. Either we're not getting what we pay for or someone is bullshitting us. And we're 37th in health care? Is it that we have lousy doctors and the pharmaceutical companies are ripping us off, or both?

[SharonAnn]

20. Is that "per (insured) person" or does it include ALL persons?

Citizens, resident aliens, illegal immigrants,?

What does it include in the "per person" category?

[G_j]

12. >state of the union< n/t

[Cobalt Violet]

13. I wonder what It will be after Bush Care is in effect for a few years.

Pretty low I would guess.

[Don_1967]

14. State of the Union

Bet chimpy doesn't mention that tonight

[PA Democrat]

18. “It’s the Prices Stupid” ( Why Americans Pay More for Health Care)

according to Gerard Anderson, PhD, professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Great information here:
http://www.jhsph.edu/publichealthnews/articles/2005/anderson_prices.html

And here:
http://www.jhsph.edu/publichealthnews/press_releases/2005/anderson_healthspending.html

[hunter]

19. Anderson is being disingenuous in the articles you cite.

He ignores the core problem entirely, and setting up distractions.

It's not simply "the prices." The much greater problem is our profit-driven health care system. The insurance companies and the other large for-profit health care corporations do not care about the overall health of their patients, they only care about the amount of money flowing through their pipelines.

The takeover of the American health care system by large for-profit corporations with close ties to the government has had many deadly consequences. Guys like Senate Majority leader Bill Frist shouldn't be in office, they should be in federal prison for defrauding the public.

[PA Democrat]

21. Agreed, but this is worth a read because he debunks Bush's

and the right wing's insistence that Americans get better care, that there are long waiting lists in countries with universal health care, and that medical liability reform will fix all of our problems.