Canada outranks U.S. in healthcare report card (Canada 10th with a 'B'. US 16th, worst, with a 'D'.)

[Kadie]

Canada outranks U.S. in healthcare report card

22 mins ago

TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada outperforms the United States in health outcomes but is well behind global leaders like Japan in overall health of its population, a Canadian report released on Monday showed.

The annual report card by the Conference Board of Canada ranked Canada 10th out of 16 developed countries, with a "B" grade. The United States was the worst performer, placing 16th and earning a "D" grade.

"Canada has been at the center of much of the debate on U.S. health care reform. Since Canada ranks ahead of the United States on all but one indicator of health status ... it is clear that we are getting better results," Gabriela Prada, director of health policy at the Conference Board, said in a statement.

"But when we look beyond the narrow Canada-U.S. comparison to the rest of the world, Canadians rank in the middle of the pack in terms of their health status," Prada said.

Most of the data on which the report card was based is from 2006, the group said.

President Barack Obama has pledged to reform the country's healthcare system, which is expensive and leaves millions of Americans without coverage. Canada, with its single-payer government-run system, is often held out as an example to be praised or derided by U.S. critics.

more...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_canada_health

[Barack_America]

1. But I have a friend of a friend who couldn't get an MRI in Canada!!!

Kidding of course. My husband is Canadian and I am supremely envious of their health care system...and I am a future physician.

This report is coming out at an excellent time. Hopefully it can put the Public Option over the top.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. The UK got a D? Interesting.

[enlightenment]

3. Weird, too.

The UK got 2 'As' - 2 'Bs' - 5 'Cs' - 2 'Ds'

That works out to an average of 2.86 . . . a solid 'C+' in my gradebook.

It's unclear how they figured the averages.

[rurallib]

4. We're number Last! We're number Last! We're number Last!

[Kadie]

5. Yippee for us!

We have got to get moving in a better direction.

[Toucano]

6. But my elementary school indoctrination taught me American Exceptionalism!

This new data conflicts with what I was taught as a child, so it must be faulty.

[WeCanWorkItOut]

7. Obesity rates: US (D) 31% Canada (B) 14% Switzerland (A) 8% Japan (A) 3%

Obesity may go a long way to explain poor health,
especially as far as heart disease, stroke and some cancers go.

And why are so many of us overweight? Genes are a factor.
But social inequality and overwork can't help.

This is important, because even if we had Canadian-style
health insurance for everyone, that would not
help the problem that it would still cost too much, and
that we'd still have too much money going from most Americans
to the hospitals, doctors, insurance companies, etc.

So we need to spend more time with matters of education
and reducing monopoly abuses.