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…
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…
“I wouldn’t say it (the last-place ranking) is a condemnation, because I think health care in the U.S. is pretty good if you have access. But if you don’t, I think that’s the main problem, isn’t it?” Ellen Nolte said in a telephone interview…
France did best — with 64.8 deaths deemed preventable by timely and effective health care per 100,000 people…Japan had 71.2 and Australia had 71.3 such deaths per 100,000 people. The United States had 109.7 such deaths per 100,000 people…
After the top three, Spain was fourth best, followed in order by Italy, Canada, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, Greece, Austria, Germany, Finland, New Zealand, Denmark, Britain, Ireland and Portugal, with the United States last.
The researchers compared these rankings with rankings for the same 19 countries covering the period of 1997 and 1998. France and Japan also were first and second in those rankings, while the United States was 15th, meaning it fell four places in the latest rankings…
“It is startling to see the U.S. falling even farther behind on this crucial indicator of health system performance,” Commonwealth Fund Senior Vice President Cathy Schoen said.
“The fact that other countries are reducing these preventable deaths more rapidly, yet spending far less, indicates that policy, goals and efforts to improve health systems make a difference,” Schoen added in a statement.
Our politicians have been promising us universal healthcare all the way back to Harry Truman and the 1948 elections. He didn’t even introduce a healthcare bill after he was elected.
Now we have a halfass measure that provides some improvement and cost reductions. Cost reductions I’ve already experienced in Medicare. The halfass part comes from the original Republican individual mandate instead of a single payer program.
No matter. Republicans will be campaigning this Fall against the plan they originally introduced – and didn’t oppose until President Obama adopted it.
Democrats are afraid of a complete universal single payer program – afraid they might lose campaign contributions from insurance companies. Republicans share the paranoia and trump it with the number of their own breed in bed with pharmaceutical companies and healthcare chains.
Eideard 
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