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For the health care debate: It seems to me that the single statistic that might best indicate the level of health care and the quality of life in a country is "life expectancy at birth." And the USA does not stack up well there, according to the CIA's statistics. The average life expectancy in the US, according to the site, is 78.11 years. That places the USA at #50 in the world. Albania dogs our heels at #51 (77.96 years). At the bottom is Swaziland in southern Africa (#224) with a life expectancy of only 31.88 years -- not a good place to live, if you intend to hit old age.
Who's ahead of us? Well, lots of countries, including many with that dreaded public health care... The United Kingdom has a public health care system, and they're ranked #36, with a life expectancy of 79.01 years. Germany has a public health care system, and it's ranked #32, with a 79.26 year life expectancy at birth. The PACs for the private insurance and health care industries here in the US have been running ads for the last six months raving about the terrible and inhumane horrors of the Canadian system... but Canada is ranked #8 in life expectancy, with an average of 81.32 years.
Hmm....
Who's #1? Macau (a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China, with free public health care), at 84.36, followed by #2 Andorra (in Europe, bordered by Spain and France -- and yes, all Andorrans are entitled to public health care) at 82.51 and #3 Japan at 82.12.... Oh, Japan has a universal health care system too, and pays half as much as the USA for health care.
Yes, I know that life expectancy is not only way to look at the quality of health care in a country and there are other factors at work here, but it's a good bottom line measure. What this indicates to me is that universal health care can be done, and done well. We need to figure out how we can do it, and do it even better than other countries.
Who's ahead of us? Well, lots of countries, including many with that dreaded public health care... The United Kingdom has a public health care system, and they're ranked #36, with a life expectancy of 79.01 years. Germany has a public health care system, and it's ranked #32, with a 79.26 year life expectancy at birth. The PACs for the private insurance and health care industries here in the US have been running ads for the last six months raving about the terrible and inhumane horrors of the Canadian system... but Canada is ranked #8 in life expectancy, with an average of 81.32 years.
Hmm....
Who's #1? Macau (a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China, with free public health care), at 84.36, followed by #2 Andorra (in Europe, bordered by Spain and France -- and yes, all Andorrans are entitled to public health care) at 82.51 and #3 Japan at 82.12.... Oh, Japan has a universal health care system too, and pays half as much as the USA for health care.
Yes, I know that life expectancy is not only way to look at the quality of health care in a country and there are other factors at work here, but it's a good bottom line measure. What this indicates to me is that universal health care can be done, and done well. We need to figure out how we can do it, and do it even better than other countries.