Med News Today

Is Canada's Health Care Superior

On a side-by-side comparison of several factors, the Canadian public-supported health care systems seems to be doing a better job of taking care of its citizens than the myriad of private providers in the United States, as pointed out in an article in Yes! Magazine.

Infant mortality is higher in the U.S., life expectancy is lower, and Americans spend nearly twice as much for health care than their northern neighbors.

Exerpt:

Should the United States implement a more inclusive, publicly funded health care system? That's a big debate throughout the country. But even as it rages, most Americans are unaware that the United States is the only country in the developed world that doesn't already have a fundamentally public--that is, tax-supported--health care system.

That means that the United States has been the unwitting control subject in a 30-year, worldwide experiment comparing the merits of private versus public health care funding. For the people living in the United States, the results of this experiment with privately funded health care have been grim. The United States now has the most expensive health care system on earth and, despite remarkable technology, the general health of the U.S. population is lower than in most industrialized countries. Worse, Americans' mortality rates--both general and infant--are shockingly high.

Will the U.S. ever take a serious look at the state of health of its citizens?

Don't bet on it.

In this country money talks, and there is way too much money being made in health care for any effective change to be taken seriously.

posted by nattietodd @ 8:12 AM