The Best Health Care System in the World

I frequently hear acquaintances opine that America has the best health care system in the world. I'm pretty sure I've heard some national elected officials say the same thing, though I cannot quote them. I'm sure enough, in fact, that I'm not going to Google them to get the quotations.

Yesterday the Austin American-Statesman contained an article entitled "Study: U.S. behind in cutting child mortality." It was about estimates of mortality of children younger than five being published yesterday in the British medical journal, The Lancet.

Some really good news. Two decades ago, 11.9 million children died per year worldwide. This year, only 7.7 million children will die. An improvement in 20 years of over 35%.

The news about the United States' record in the same area - the record of "the best health care system in the world"? Not so good as that.

Twenty years ago, the United States ranked 29th among the nations of the world in child mortality. Not all that good, in my opinion. One wonders why "the best health care system in the world" would not be first in that ranking. But, whatever the reason, it has gotten worse. Today, the United States ranks 42nd among the nations of the world in child mortality. To make that clear, 41 nations in the world have a smaller percentage of their children dying each year than we do.

Much of Europe is ahead of us on that list. Better than us. Chile is ahead of us. The United Arab Emirates* is ahead of us. Cuba is ahead of us on that list. A smaller percentage of Cuban children die each year than American children. Last time I checked, Cuba really did have socialized medicine.

Singapore tops the list. Ahead of us. Better than us. In 1990, Serbia and Malaysia lost more of their children than we did. Now they lose less. Serbia and Malaysia save more of their children than we do.

Now, to be fair, the United States has cut its rate of child mortality in the last 20 years. Our rate of child mortality did decline 42 percent. About the same rate of decline as Angola, Sierra Leone, and Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan, for crying out loud. We're doing as well as Kazakhstan!

The study was done by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. That's Washington State, by the way, not Washington, D.C. The author of the study is Christopher Murray, who directs the institute.

Mr. Murray says, "There are an awful lot of people who think we have the best medical system in the world. The data is so contrary to that."

The data. What a concept. The data. Not the myth, not the bravado, not the jingoism. The data.

Just in case you were wondering: "Rather than being tied to race, the data suggest broader problems with the nation's poorly planned health care system, experts say."

So, be against health care reform in the United States if you want to. But, don't try convincing me it's because we already have "the best health care system in the world." Because, we don't. And if you say it when you know it's not true, it's a lie.

In the words of that famous Republican, Leigh Anne Touhy, in "The Blind Side," "Don't you dare lie to me."

*According to Wikipedia, "Standards of health care are considered to be generally high in the United Arab Emirates, resulting from increased government spending during strong economic years. ... Health care currently is free ... for UAE citizens."