Check out the rankings of health care in various countries according to the World Health Organization.
Rank - Country
1 France
2 Italy
3 San Marino
4 Andorra
5 Malta
6 Singapore
7 Spain
8 Oman
9 Austria
10 Japan
11 Norway
12 Portugal
13 Monaco
14 Greece
15 Iceland
16 Luxembourg
17 Netherlands
18 United Kingdom
19 Ireland
20 Switzerland
21 Belgium
22 Colombia
23 Sweden
24 Cyprus
25 Germany
26 Saudi Arabia
27 United Arab Emirates
28 Israel
29 Morocco
30 Canada
31 Finland
32 Australia
33 Chile
34 Denmark
35 Dominica
36 Costa Rica
37 United States of America
38 Slovenia
39 Cuba
40 Brunei
41 New Zealand
42 Bahrain
43 Croatia
44 Qatar
45 Kuwait
46 Barbados
47 Thailand
48 Czech Republic
49 Malaysia
50 Poland
Whoops! Why aren't we No. 1? Why are we ranked at No. 37, if we have the best health care in the world?
I'll tell you what it is. It's all the people in the US who keep getting sick and dragging us down. Wait. Don't folks in other countries get sick? Well, yeah, but could it be that more of the citizens in those countries have access to primary care, and that they can be treated before they get desperately and expensively sick?
Thanks to Doorman-Priest for the reminder to post these numbers again.
Yay! We beat Slovenia!
ReplyDeleteAnd Cuba!
ReplyDeleteSad isn't it. Our health care for those who can pay is superb, but all in all we're no 37! What an indictment. What would happen if our sports teams were ranked 37th at the Olympics?
ReplyDeletelink
ReplyDeletelink
The Guardian is following things closely. You may be interested to read the above.
Link, link back to you, TheMe. I'll go read.
ReplyDeleteThe British embassy in Washington is quietly trying to counter inaccuracies. A spokesman said: "We're keeping a close eye on things and where there's a factually wrong statement, we will take the opportunity to correct people in private. That said, we don't want to get involved in a domestic debate."
ReplyDeleteTheMe, why don't the embassy folks speak out publicly about the inaccuracies? That's carrying British reticence and politeness too far.
TheMe, your second link is rather horrifying, although there's nothing that I didn't already know. What must the world think of us? I hope that this ugliness opens some eyes.
ReplyDeleteBut, but, but.... We are the US of A --we MUST be number 1 ---what shall we do. Yes, you must be right --we must be a sicker nation than all the others....
ReplyDeleteNot No. 1. How will we bear it? And to have France in first place!
ReplyDeleteSorry, I still can't do embedded links, but this comment from the Times
ReplyDeletehttp://tiny.cc/6xqA9
puts it in a wider political context.
Mimi, that WHO study was done in 2000. As we know, things in the US system have certainly not improved since then.
ReplyDeleteI suspect the US ranking would be even lower if that study were repeated today.
I don't think it is reticence as much as it is politic. That and the government effectively is on holiday at the moment. If it persists, I imagine that words may be spoken behind closed doors, but I don't think our government wants to get into a battle with your right wingers at the moment.
ReplyDeleteThe second article is very unattractive I admit, but then Adolf is the biggest anti-hero of the last century and if you want hyperbolic argument...
Mike, my cousin, with whom I was having a running argument about health care pointed that out to me as a talking point to prove that the WHO's information was "crap", but I decided there was no point in further "discussion" about the matter, so I didn't bother to say that our rank is probably lower now, since more in the US are without health insurance now than 9 years ago.
ReplyDeleteHe and I don't agree on much in politics, so I asked him why he started the discussion and continued with it for so long, and he said, "...because I wanted you to cross back from the dark side."
TheMe, upon reflection, it's probably best that the Brits continue to speak behind closed doors, because their open support of public health care could well backfire. You know how we Amurikans hate interference in our internal affairs.
It is so sad that people do not want to help each other here! It's not like we've not had it before, those of us who have been in the military of under Medicare because that is what those systems are! They go to the pharmaceutical companies and bargain for lower prices. And the doctors are given flat rates to practice with those patients.
ReplyDeleteCiss, it's the ignorance! A huge swath of the citizens are already covered by government-run health care.
ReplyDeleteVA
Federal employee insurance
Medicare
Medicaid
The VA negotiates drug prices, but Medicare does not, thanks in great part to my fellow Louisianian and former member of the House of Representatives, Billy Tauzin, who presently presides over PHRMA, the lobbying arm of the drug industry. Billy and his cohorts almost literally wrote the Medicare Part D drug bill, which, of course, does not include negotiating drug prices and includes the absurd doughnut hole gap when coverage may not apply.
The very name Billy Tauzin causes my blood pressure to surge.