WHO's Fooling Who? The World Health Organization's Problematic Ranking of Health Care

I have no complaint about health care in the U.S. I have a good pension medical plan and The Wife has been with Group Health HMO for most of 40 years.

Anyone wants to go to France, go before the dollar crashes. <G>

 

I know that personal ancedotes don't prove anything but I personally know someone who became a medical doctor and decided to move to England to practice because he is so dissatified with the health care system in the United States.

While in England he was diagnosed with cancer. He decided to return to the United States for treatment even though he doesn't have medical insurance to cover the costs.

He doesn't talk about it - but that decision speaks loudly to me.

 

Yes. It shows us that the American system is the best in the world for those who have the means to pay.

 

Actually he doesn't have the means to pay. He is over $100,000 in debt in student loans for medical school and had only just started working as an intern in England when he was diagnosed.

His family is not wealthy and he has no income and no savings. I don't know how he plans on paying the medical bills.

You may have jumped to the wrong conclusion.

 

I suppose you know this but your company can modify or even take away retirement medical whenever they want to do so. One example I'm familiar with is that Lucent Tech. decided to do away with medical benefits for spouces of retirees. Other companies including one of the large drug companies provide retirement medical until the retiree was Medicare eligible and then cut it off. The chairman of the deacons at my former church was caught in this situation. Many companies no longer provide any retirement medical all. This has been true at AT&T since 2000.

What I've said here pertains to professional employees who don't work under a contract. I would expect that someone who was a member of a union would be in better shape at least for now.

 

I stand corrected. His income potential, though, is high.

 

37th sounds about right.

The United States is
44th in life expectancy at birth - CIA World Factbook, 2007
40th in infant mortality - CIA World Factbook, 2007
83rd in hospital beds per 1000 people - World Development Indicators database
1st in health spending per person - World Bank, 2002

I was unable to find good numbers for Low birth weight and self-reported health which are two other key national measures.

If I had a rare condition or required a high risk procedure, the US is definitely the place to go if:

1) I had the means to know that I needed this procedure
2) I had the means to know that this procedure existed
3) I had the means to know who the best practicioners in the world were for this procedure
4) I had the means to travel to these practicioners
5) I had the means to pay for the procedure

For many people, especially in the US, their poor health system does not allow for steps 1-3 not to mention their lack of ability to pay for steps 4-5.

 

Who's fooling WHOM

 

At least the OP did put the "?" in.