Reply #21: Tadaa..they do [View All]

[camero]

They rank 37th out of 191 countries in the W.H.O. standings. Last among industrialized countries.

http://www.centrecountyfordean.org/000807Myth.htm

A commentary published in the July 26, 2000 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association notes that in a comparison of 13 countries based on 16 health indicators, the U.S. ranked on average 12th. The countries included in the study were, in order from the top-ranked (best health care) to the lowest-ranked, as follows: Japan, Sweden, Canada, France, Australia, Spain, Finland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Belgium, the U.S., and Germany. Of the 13 countries compared, only Germany ranked lower overall than the U.S. In fact, the U.S. ranked dead last for three indicators. These were low-birth-weight percentages, neonatal mortality and infant mortality overall, and years of potential life lost. The U.S. ranked 11th for life expectancy for females at one year and 12th for life expectancy for males at one year. These rankings do not paint a picture of a country that has the world's best health care.

On June 21, 2000, the World Health Organization released the World Health Report – Health Systems: Improving Performance, which is accessible at http://www.who.int/whr/ (World Health Report). The World Health Report ranked the U.S. 37th out of 191 countries. According to the World Health Report, the objective of a health care system is to be both good and fair. Thus, a health care system should strive to achieve the highest possible average level of health with the fewest disparities among individuals and groups. Americans must face the fact the U.S. health system is not good and fair as so defined. (See The Health Care Fairness Act of 1999 at http://www.law.uh.edu/healthlawperspectives/HealthPolicy/991118HCFAct.html for a discussion of the lower health status of minority populations in the U.S.)

According to the World Health Report, of the 191 countries in the study, the U.S. spent the highest percentage (13.7%) of its Gross Domestic Product on health care but still managed only to achieve an overall ranking of 37. The World Health Report also found that private (non-governmental) health expenses as a percentage of total health expenses in most industrialized countries average only 25% because most have universal health coverage. In the U.S., however, private (non-governmental) health expenditure runs 55.9%