Aug 13, 2007
Hard Truths about Hardcare
Something’s wrong here when one of the richest countries in the world, the one that spends the most on health care, is not able to keep up with other countries. —Dr Christopher Murray, head of the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington
It’s getting to be old news, but a recent study has further clarified the dismal performance of the US healthcare system. In the past twenty years, the US has fallen from 11th to 42nd place in life expectancy. Nations doing better than America include all of Europe, Japan, Singapore, and Jordan.
Researchers cite two main factors: the ridiculous costs of health insurance, and the trend toward obesity in America, especially among the poor.
Neither of these factors will ever improve as long as we continue down the hardcare path. Indeed, both factors would be immediately improved by a shift to a single-payer system that stresses prevention and softcare.
