France best, U.S. worst in preventable death ranking

[jordi_fanclub]

Source: Reuters (via Yahoo)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - France, Japan and Australia rated best and the United States worst in new rankings focusing on preventable deaths due to treatable conditions in 19 leading industrialized nations, researchers said on Tuesday.

If the U.S. health care system performed as well as those of those top three countries, there would be 101,000 fewer deaths in the United States per year, according to researchers writing in the journal Health Affairs.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080108/hl_nm/deaths_rankings_dc

[Fedja]

1. Makes the war seem trivial eh?

[Bragi]

3. Not really,... /NT

[jordi_fanclub]

4. NO!... In fact makes the war seem WORSE!

By two orders of reason:
1)- Because the 4000+ US casualties in Iraq are ADDED to that 101,000 deaths/year;
2)- Because the current $484,014,413,433 cost of war in Iraq divided by the 505,000 (=101,000/yr x 5yrs)
means that for EACH of 101,000/yr could have allocated $958,444 (almost $1M) to try to PREVENT their death!

[indepat]

2. My fundie cousin was lauding the US as the best country in the world notwithstanding

she had just lost a forty-something uninsured sister to a preventable death. I reminded her of this and maybe ten or more reasons why her assessment might be suspect.

[joeglow3]

5. I have always wondered if population density has an impact?

The US and Canada have populations spread out over MUCH more land mass than most countries (with the US being quite a bit more spread out than Canada). Obviously, there is not top notch hospitals in rural Nebraska, Montana, Nevada, Alaska, Texas, North Dakota, etc.

Does this have an impact as many of the places at the top are smaller, much more dense, countries? I honestly have NO clue, but have often wondered.

[Fedja]

7. none whatsoever

I'm pretty sure the majority of these deaths are due to illnesses or diseases, rather than injuries. That, and the deaths aren't caused by sub-standard care at certain medical institutions, they're caused because the people aren't eligible to be treated in the first place.

[jordi_fanclub]

8. Seems population density isn't relevant and have no impact...

... or Australia should perform worse (low density) and Japan should perform better (high density) than France

Top countries have so different densities as:
France: 110
Japan: 339
Australia: 2.6
...
United States: 31

(EDIT) Pop densities: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_density

[joeglow3]

9. Oh, I know it is not the ONLY factor

However, I see what type of medical resources my wife's family has in central Nebraska. Her cousin had a toothache and on the second day, he went to his Doctor. They ended up life-flighting him to Lincoln, where he spent 2 weeks in ICU and had his chest cracked open twice to relieve fluid. Basically, they told him he almost died because of the time it took to get him to a hospital able to care for him. Thus, while I know it is not a be-all-end-all, I wondered if it had SOME impact.

[jordi_fanclub]

10. Anyone can find several personal factors but the REAL factor IS...

... the POLITICAL decision to routing enough allocation of resources for universal health care programs!

[yardwork]

13. Ask yourself why the nearest hospital able to care for him was so far away.

We spend hundreds of billions on a war in Iraq. How about a couple million for some more hospitals, and universal health insurance so everyone living in central Nebraska can go to the hospital when they need it?

[joeglow3]

15. The reason it was so far away was because...

...They live 5 miles outside a town with a population around 500 people. It is a bit unreasonable to spend a few hundred million dollars for all the possible medical equipment needed and to staff the hospital with every possible type of Doctor needed every couple hours apart in rural areas.

[yardwork]

26. If you think it is unreasonable, then obviously you care more about the money than lives.

Just so we're clear on your priorities.

[uppityperson]

19. Living near a Big Hospital, friend had a cracked tooth, toothache, didn't go to doctor

No insurance. Is waiting for it to get bad enough and may have some real issues then. Having lived in Central Nebraska, by a town of 500, and in WA near a city of a whole bunch, and having worked in healthcare for many yrs, what limits people's access is not so much how far they have to go to get help, but can they afford healthcare (insurance or not).

[yardwork]

12. Health insurance is the difference. The article says so.

Health care in the U.S. is ok for those who have insurance. Those who have no insurance have no health care. Period.

[raebrek]

22. So are they comparing their insured to our uninsured? N/T

[jordi_fanclub]

25. No!... They are comparing the WHOLE populations! (n/t)

But even if the issue is SPINED the number of deaths/year don't change: 101,000 in the USA!

[momster]

6. Our "Rugged Individualism"

and national puritanism means an awful lot of men and women refuse to go to the doctor, even if they have coverage. They don't want to deal with anything 'embarrassing' or 'it's not that bad'...which is why so many cancers are discovered later stage than perhaps they should be. Add in the shame factor of being overweight or a smoker and you have people who don't see a physician from decade to decade.

Of course, as a woman, so often when I've been to a doctor because something hurt or didn't feel right, I've been dismissed with 'are you happy at home' or 'that's just a natural part of aging.' Really encourages me to return when something else goes wrong.

[yardwork]

14. It's lack of health insurance.

[LynnTheDem]

11. America Kills 101,000 Own Citizens Every Year.

America Invades Nations Unprovoked.

Amreica Disappears People.

America Tortures.

America's Secret Prisons.

America Imprisons More Citizens Than Any Other Country In The World.

[redqueen]

16. Well... so? Mammon loves us! Worship!

Too many U.S.-ians still in thrall to their corporatocracy.

I don't know if even a depression will snap them out of it.



Did anyone see the caucus from Iowa on C-Span last week? With the young guy talking about how if we have nationalized healthcare, then doctors will get paid less cause they'll be working for the government... and they wouldn't want to do their jobs as "hard as they..." then he just trailed off.

SO frickin sad.

[Nihil]

17. And the Bush spin on this one will be ...

... "America better than France at fighting global over-population problem!"

:think:

[Summer93]

18. Looking for common sense in doctors.....

Doctors don't want to do their jobs now! Having been told to stay on a drug that caused me terrible side effects more than once. Having a doctor dismiss my questions.

I don't think money is going to make doctors work with patients as they are part of the problem/remedy.

If they don't have any answers they throw drugs at the problem, or worse surgery.

They are totally disinterested in nutrition.

I don't know what the answers but it sure would seem that the insurance industry has failed.

[uppityperson]

20. Broadbrushing a profession. Nice.

There are lots of reasons for this. Yes, there are bad/uncaring doctors who don't care enough to listen, but most of them are over worked, overstretched, underpaid (yes, sounds odd but most FP/GP docs are), over paying on insurance which leads them to have to work for conglomerations (providing health"care" as fast as possible rather than as good as possible).

It seems that the healthcare system, as it stands, has peaked and is going down as a business rather than as providing good quality healthcare.

[BrklynLiberal]

21. Facts that would give O'Lielly a stroke...

[stanwyck]

23. If you saw the last GOP debate,

these facts also fly right in the face of every GOP candidate. They consistently lauded the U.S. healthcare system as the best in the world. They believe Canadians are flocking to the U.S. for treatment, as is the rest of the world. And Romney's concern is not the millions without any coverage, but the small percentage who could afford coverage (earning $100,000 according to him...) but refuse to pay for coverage. Like that's the most important problem with healthcare. We can afford it but won't pay for it. Sheesh.
O'Reilly never lets facts get in his way. And neither does the GOP.

[BrklynLiberal]

24. True. The GOP refuses to acknowledge the healthcare crisis int his country...but of course none of

them have had to experience it first hand...