A Medical System to be Proud Of? No, One to be Ashamed Of!

December 11, 2007 -- How is it we Americans are so brainwashed about our medical care? Why do the candidates for public office tout our system as the world's finest... with straight faces?

"What is particularly shameful is how poorly this country compares with other industrialized countries. In 1960, the United States ranked 12th lowest in the world in infant mortality. By 2004, the last year for which comparative data are available, it had dropped to 29th, tied with Poland and Slovakia." [A New York Times Op Ed, 10/18/2008.]

Traditionally, the quality of a country's health care is measured by three criteria:

  • Life expectancy
  • Morbidity
  • Infant mortality
It has been argued that, "...life expectancy and infant mortality are both poor measures of the efficacy of a health care system because they are influenced by many factors that are unrelated to the quality and accessibility of medical care." Nonetheless, health care outcomes in America remain unacceptable.

The NYT concludes, "The chief lesson we draw is that the American health care system, despite the highest expenditures in the world, is badly in need of an overhaul."

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