America has the best health care in the world, we are often told. Yet now there is a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association comparing Americans and British and, lo and behold, "the US population in late middle age is less healthy than the equivalent British population for diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, myocardial infarction, stroke, lung disease, and cancer." Adding insult to injury, the British spend less than half per person on healthcare than Americans.
The differences aren’t just minor statistical differences, they are significant, and can’t be accounted for by differences in race, income, or social status. I encourage you to review the study.
I heard some interviews on National Public Radio today as to why the differences, and one British woman speculated that the primary causes were that Americans drive everywhere, while British are more inclined to walk, and that Americans insist on huge meal servings, while British are more judicious. I suspect the causes run deeper, having to do in addition with our addiction to sugar and our expectation that the medical system will "fix" whatever health problems ail us.
One could argue that we’re not receiving good value for our sky-high medical costs. One could also argue that the healthcare system isn’t pushing us hard enough toward prevention.
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