U.S Health Care

[Buck Randall]

So who is to blame for having a BMI of infinity?

The list could go on forever. Obviously personal responsibility is a big chunk of it, but as with most health problems, there are a lot of factors at play. People with good mental health, education, stable family relationships, and regular access to healthcare tend not to end up with a BMI of infinity.

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Don't accidents happen in every country?
IF life is so rush that accident rate is so high as to effect life expectancy, isn't that proof of a lower quality of life?

I thought this was about quality of health care?

 

[Silver]

Infant mortality rates I think also shed some light on health care. Not the whole picture obviously but it's definitely revealing to a degree.

 

[Son of Butch]

I thought this was about quality of health care?

It is and my position is that Life Expectancy is the true measure of the quality of health care. That results speak for themself.

 

[sim.-ang.king]

It is and my position is that Life Expectancy is the true measure of the quality of health care. That results speak for themself.

Don't accidents happen in every country?
IF life is so rush that accident rate is so high as to effect life expectancy, isn't that proof of a lower quality of life?

So accidents reflect quality of life, or is it quality health care?

 

[Son of Butch]

So accidents reflect quality of life, or is it quality health care?

Both.
My position is Life Expectancy reflects both, quality of health care and quality of life.
Life Expectancy is all encompassing in my opinion.
I am open to hearing if any can think of a better or more accurate measure.
Life expectancy is the best quantifying measure that I can think of.
But just because I think so doesn't mean it is, only means it's my best answer.

 

[wbvs58]

I would be interested if there is any data on the %age of the adult population of a country that still hit the smokes and whether that has any correlation to the ranking of life expectancy of a country. I think that reducing smoking is what has got our life expectancy up from the 3 score year and 10 mark to now around the 80 mark. Obesity is certainly the current challenge. The quality of health care of a country is how they are meeting these challenges.
Of course the 1st and 2nd world wars encouraged the use of tobacco amongst males in my fathers and grandfathers generation.

Ken

 

[SmokinM]

The list could go on forever. Obviously personal responsibility is a big chunk of it, but as with most health problems, there are a lot of factors at play. People with good mental health, education, stable family relationships, and regular access to healthcare tend not to end up with a BMI of infinity.

You live in a country with a Better Med on every corner and a Dr. office in every community. Health insurance is given out to any and all that apply and assistance is available to pay for medications. The problem with healthcare in this country is personal decisions and a plush lifestyle even for those in "poverty". Also the "can't you just give me a pill to fix that" mentality. Wether you realize it or not Drs. in this country are expected to help their patients follow up on being healthier by ins. companies and medicare however that all goes over as well as forcing people to get a Covid vaccine. I agree homelife and education has a huge affect on this process but nobody addresses that. People dont even maintain relationships with their friends and spouses anymore so a relationship with their Dr. is all but non existent.

Also worth noting is that with all we have available medication and treatment wise people that would usually cease to exist in a population are still around and poor choices, genetics and habits are passed along so you dont get that improvement of the species by survival of the fittest so to speak.

 

[Dusty Britches]

I think there are a lot of valid statements made here about life expectance but most are too narrow. Genetics, cultural differences and diet are more than likely the biggest factors to longer life.

It also seems to me that many people confused health insurance and affordability with health care. The US is by far the best in the world for health care, which is why the wealthy in other countries come here for care when faced with a serious illness.

Also, I have friends and know people in Canada and England who have to wait months for treatment and surgeries for several reasons. First, if major care is needed they have to petition the government to get permission to have the procedure. A friend of mine's father needed heart surgery but since he was over the average life expectancy age the government said he was no use to society and declined his petition. He could not appeal. Another friend of mine had fully herniated a disc in her back and could barely get out of bed, much less walk or anything else. She was in excruciating pain and needed emergency surgery. (I had the same situation and in 5 days I had surgery. Within 8 weeks I was almost back to fully functional.) She petitioned her government and was approved since she was in her 30's. She had to wait 14 months and in the meantime they gave her morphine for the pain.

I cannot stand it when people try to compare our medical care to other countries. There is no comparison.

 

[Silver]

Petitioning the gov't? That's a new one onto me.

 

[acefire]

Compared to Europe or Canada, it's affordable but there's a long wait and the care may not be as good.

Here, you pay out the nose, but the best care is available and generally in a timely manner, if you can afford it.

I had to wait 3 weeks for a MRI that takes 15 min

 

[CottageFarm]

Don't accidents happen in every country?
IF life is so rush that accident rate is so high as to effect life expectancy, isn't that proof of a lower quality of life?

For many, Longevity of life and Quality of life are are not necessarily synonymous.

Shorter life expectancy does not equal lower quality care or lower quality of life because
Free Will (for now) still reigns in this country. We all choose how we live our lives, what we eat, etc. Americans are, for many reasons, much more inclined to choose the less healthy option in almost everything. Sometimes it's ignorance (have you ever read the ingredients on those packages of "healthier" foods) Sometimes it's arrogance, sometimes it's laziness.

It is an interesting correlation that our longevity started to drop right about the time (1980's) the "experts" started telling us what we should and shouldn't eat.....

 

[Ky hills]

Lots of factors play into the concept of personal choices/healthy lifestyles. Lots of folks want to point fingers at peoples BMI or what ever. Like it or not our lives are changing as the world we live in gets more modern and it's not always for the best. People live their life on the go. Very little time to just be at home much less have home made meals. Believe me, I can tell a big difference in a meal of meat and vegetables eaten at home vs heavily processed fast food or store bought heat and serve stuff.
Another factor besides time is availability and cost of healthier foods.
Not every town has a grocery that has a lot of selections for items like low sodium options.
I watch my sodium intake as well as eat gluten free.
A loaf of gluten free bread is almost $7 and half the size of a typical bread loaf, and only available in larger grocery stores.

 

[Mountaintown Creek Ranch]

Extend your life expectancy...stop eating wheat and sugar .

 

[Buck Randall]

Health insurance is given out to any and all that apply and assistance is available to pay for medications.

Lots of people who have insurance still can't afford to go to the doctor. When I was unmarried and fresh out of school, I had a "catastrophic" plan with a $7000 deductible. I absolutely wasn't going to a doctor for anything outside of a life threatening emergency. Plenty of Americans are in the same boat. Heck, that deductible is more than the median household savings.

 

[SmokinM]

Catastrophic plans are what most of us have nowadays thanks to Obama Care. Your Dr. visits still are at a reduced rate in that plan. Also one of the few things good out of Obamacare is yearly physicals are at little or no cost.
They put on provisions for a lot of preventive maintenance care in these plans which is why they went up in price and deductible for most of us.

 

[Dusty Britches]

Petitioning the gov't? That's a new one onto me.

I was hoping you would comment. I was just paraphrasing what they told me. They do not live in BC, either. One lives in England.

But interesting you didn't say anything about the extreme wait times.

 

[Silver]

I was hoping you would comment. I was just paraphrasing what they told me. They do not live in BC, either. One lives in England.

But interesting you didn't say anything about the extreme wait times.

Wait times are dependent on what you need and how bad you need it. Our system is very good and very quick for real life or death emergencies. Our system has very long wait times for all sorts of other things.

 

[HDRider]

Each country is given a score for each of the above factors and then a total score out of 100. According to this index, the ten countries with the best health care are:

1. South Korea
2. Taiwan
3. Denmark
4. Austria
5. Japan
6. Australia
7. France
8. Spain
9. Belgium
10. United Kingdom

Revealed: Countries With The Best Health Care Systems, 2023 - CEOWORLD magazine

Taiwan has the best healthcare system in the world, according to the 2023 edition of the CEOWORLD magazine Health Care Index, which ranks 110 countries according to factors that contribute to overall health. Two additional Asian nations were among the top 10 in 2023: South Korea (second place)...

ceoworld.biz

 

[HDRider]

The US was ranked #30 in that survey.

Venezuela was last out of 89 countries.

The best states can be viewed at https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/health-care

Arkansas was #49, and once again, thank God for Mississippi, we were not last

Hawaii was #1