New Health Rankings: Of 17 Nations, U.S. Is Dead Last

We're no 7, we're no 7. Beaten by Spain, for God's sake.

^^ I know, eh!

Another board I'm on, full of USAians they always comment on how our HC system sucks compared to theirs. I ask, 'In what respect' and they usually point to 'choice' as the reason. Not actual health 'care'.

So what's killing everyone in Denmark? they have nothing to brag about.

Does anyone find it strange that they chose 17 countries?

or did they stop at 17 when they found what they were looking for?

Who was 18?

Looking at Canada's rating I guess it is true when someone says "You get what you pay for."

Not really. Japan spends less per GDP than we do, yet is number one. A lot of these findings actually have little to do with health care directly. Homicides, car deaths, in which the US leads only have a peripheral influence by the health care system. Social attitudes are much more relevant.

Hmmm...US has the loweest level of smoking in all peer countries except Sweden, and the highest death rate, including much higher deathr ate for non-communicable diseases (cardiovascular disease, cancer). Something is not adding up here. Smoking is, apparently, the leading cause of preventable death, killing, according to BC government notices, half of all smokers, and yet this is not reflected in the statistics.

Our health care statistics look a lot better when you remove first generation immigrants from the statistics. We used to be fine in that regard but after 1986 we stopped screening immigrants for disease and etc. as that was 'discriminatory' against AIDS carriers from other countries.

As a consequence of this insane liberal policy we now have to deal with diseases that had been all but eradicated from the US in 1986 such as tuberculosis, whooping cough, diptheria, cholera, measles, and etc.

The US also has ghettoes of unassimilated immigrants (some are into their 4th generations) that are rife with violence and due to political correctness government is effectively paralyzed into doing nothing abut it. Don't want to be called 'racist' for cleaning up crime in ethnic neighborhoods, you see.

The muslim ghettoes of Europe do not compare for the simple reason that their violence is generally directed outward. In the US the greatest amount of violence is black-on-black, followed by Hispanic-on-Hispanic. The residents of our ghettoes virtually slaughter each other.

With car accidents we just haven't done enough about stopping people from talking or (worse) texting on their stupid cell phones while driving. I personally want this offense raised to the same level as DUI. Of course, the cell phone firms lobby harder and spend far more against cell phone control than the NRA spends against gun control.

NRA lobbying costs for all of 2012 (total includes money spent in states and in Congress) = $2,205,000.00

The communications industry in the same year spent $400 million in Congress .

Our child mortality rate again links to immigrants and ethnic ghettoes. Sadly, it would probably be even worse were it not for the fact that a disproportionate number of black and Hispanic pregnancies are aborted these days.

On that teen pregnancy rate it goes back to the ethnic groups again. Blacks are #1 in raw teen pregnancies followed by Hispanics and then whites come up a distant third.

Heart disease...all I have to say there is fast food, soda, and chips. With that in mind I expect the states of Washington and Colorado to dominate in heart and lung disease given their recent legalization of marijuana.

*Maybe* Obamacare might make inroads into penetrating ethnic communities and the bureaucracy may even bring back health screening in immigration to reduce domestic health care costs. We;ll see.

I believe in North America in general that Obesity has been overtaing smoking as #1 for the last decade or so.

Yeah, I was waiting for the standard "everything's fine in White America, the mud people are making us look bad" defence.

The rest of Bart's post is straight-up lies. The US hasn't stopped "screening immigrants for diseases" and entry to the US was denied to any and all imigrants, tourists or other vistors with HIV/AIDS until 2009 when the law was finally repealed.

Google is at your fingertips and everything I posted I can defend with the same government published documentation that you could get to if you bothered to look.

FYI - I checked each of those facts before I put them up there.

Actually, white people in Alaska and in the deep South contribute to those states' high teenage pregnancy rates.

Alaska's white people are also #1 in incidents of pregnancy from incest.

In Utah their moderate teen birthrate is footnoted with the fact that while they do have a moderate teen birthrate their out-of-wedlock birth rate for those same teens reduces their out-of-wedlock teen birth rate to the lowest in the nation.

I believe in North America in general that Obesity has been overtaing smoking as #1 for the last decade or so.

Well, given that smoking is awesome for keeping those extra pounds off, and given that the results of this study seem to indicate that obesity is worse than smoking, I expect a government "Light 'em Up" program. Ha ha ha.

Seriously, what it does do is somewhat confirm my suspicion that the dangers of smoking, as time went by, became overrated. Same with drinking and driving. Nasty stuff, don't get me wrong, but now that that behaviour has been significantly reduced, we are hearing that distracted driving is just as dangerous. The do-gooders get a little overzealous and are still stomping the corpse long after its dead.

From a public policy persepctive, I understand this--smoking kills and drinking and driving destroys lives and familites. But from a science perspective, I don't think it's OK to exaggerate scietific claim to make a public p[olicy point. It brings sceince into disrepute in the long run.