U.S. Health in International Perspective: Shorter Lives, Poorer HealthThe details are even more distressing. Here's the link.
The United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world, but it is far from the healthiest. For many years, Americans have been dying at younger ages than people in almost all other high-income countries. This health disadvantage prevails even though the U.S. spends far more per person on health care than any other nation. To gain a better understanding of this problem, the NIH asked the National Research Council and the IOM to investigate potential reasons for the U.S. health disadvantage and to assess its larger implications.
No single factor can fully explain the U.S. health disadvantage. It likely has multiple causes and involves some combination of inadequate health care, unhealthy behaviors, adverse economic and social conditions, and environmental factors, as well as public policies and social values that shape those conditions. Without action to reverse current trends, the health of Americans will probably continue to fall behind that of people in other high-income countries. The tragedy is not that the U.S. is losing a contest with other countries, but that Americans are dying and suffering from illness and injury at rates that are demonstrably unnecessary.
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Friday, January 11, 2013
U.S. Health Care Falling behind other Advanced Countries. We're killing our citizens.
The Institute of Medicine had some shocking news. While Republicans insist we're living longer and need to raise the retirement age of Americans, we're not really living longer after all. Opposite day everyday in Republican world?:
"No single factor can fully explain the U.S. health disadvantage..."
ReplyDeleteHow about they take a look at the actuarial overhead? Insurer profits? Estimated at 20% of our healthcare costs, I believe.
True, it can be summed easily enough.
ReplyDeleteNationalize health care, we are all paying for it anyway, at a higher rate than necessary. Federal and State Health jobs for all doctors and administers and nursing staff,
ReplyDeletedecent wages, decent retirement, nursing colleges and all medical, drug and equipment suppliers fall under federal regulation. Insurance agents and actuary personnel can via for government jobs.
Preventive care, actual medicine continues to reduce long term costs, forever.
Not to get greedy (just on a roll), confiscate guns as a national health care emergency measure. 85% of children killed by guns world-wide are in USA. Makes one proud of our freedom./s