US Health Care Rankings Worldwide

Are you outraged by the status of our health care in the United States or do you still believe that we have the best health care in the entire world?

Here are some statistics to consider:

According to the WORLD FACT BOOK, published by the United States Central Intelligence Agency and easily accessed by anyone on the Internet at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html

Infant Mortality Rate:  (# of deaths of live born infants under age one year)

-5.9 deaths per 1,000 births

-The US ranking is 174 out of 224 countries

- That means that 50 countries do a better job at keeping infants alive their first year then the US

- Countries with the lowest infant mortality rates are Monaco, Japan, Bermuda, Singapore and Sweden

- The rates of infant mortality in these countries is half of that in the US!

• ALL residents of Japan are required to have health insurance
• Sweden provides National Health care to all
• Bermuda offers a gov subsidized health care package to all residents
• Monaco has compulsory state funded health care
• Singapore has compulsory federal subsidized health care coverage for all 

Maternal Mortality Rate: (# of deaths of mothers when giving birth)

-21 deaths per 100,000 live births

- US ranking is 137 of 184 countries

- That means that 47 countries do a better job at keeping mothers alive during and after childbirth

- Countries with the highest maternal mortality rates are Estonia, Greece, Singapore, Italy, and Sweden

• Sweden provides National Health care to all
• Singapore has compulsory federal subsidized health care coverage for all 
• Estonia has government provided health insurance funded from taxes
• Greece offers national health insurance with residents also having the option to buy private insurance
• Italy provides health coverage to all through a mix of public and private. Italy has a Department of National Health Service and doctors are paid entirely by this department.

Life Expectancy:

- In the US you are expected to live to age 78.2 years

- US ranking is 51 out of 223 countries

- That means that 50 countries have higher life expectancy then the US

- This is down from a ranking of 20th in 1990

- Countries with the highest life expectancy are Monaco, Macau, Japan, and Singapore

- They are expected to live 6 years longer or more in these countries

• Singapore has compulsory federal subsidized health care coverage for all 
• ALL residents of Japan are required to have health insurance
• Monaco has compulsory state funded health care (highest life expectancy at age 78)
• -Macau has a universally accessible single-payer system funded by taxes

Are you seeing some similarities in these countries? Anything that here in the US we do not have?

If you are still not convinced, that here in the US, we DO NOT have the best health care in the world then here are some more statistics. The World Health Organization ranks the health systems of its 191 member countries in the World Health Report which was released in 2000. The report indicated that:

- The US ranked number 38 out of 191 countries

- The top 10 ranking health care systems were: France, Italy, San Marino, Andorra, Malta, Singapore, Spain, Oman, Austria, and Japan. 

- The interesting thing is that the US RANKED NUMBER ONE FOR HEALTH CARE EXPENDITURES PER CAPITA.

- Cuba which was ranked just below the US at number 40 was ranked number 118 for health care expenditures per capital

O.k. so what do sources inside the US have to say about our own health care system?

Well, the Huffington Post just put out a interactive article on August 30th, titled 

"The Most Efficient Health care Systems in the World" You can view it here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/29/most-efficient-healthcare_n_3825477.html

In this article the question of why the US spends so much on health care with such poor outcomes is discussed with a comparison of other countries that do a better job then us. They state: "In other words, the world's richest country spends more of its own money on health care while getting less than almost every other nation in return."

Think about our spending in relation to this information provided by the National Institutes of Health in 2013 in a report titled "US Health in International Perspective; Shorter Lives, Poorer Health" Located here: http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=13497

"Of 17 high-income countries studied by the National Institutes of Health in 2013, the United States had the highest or near-highest prevalence of infant mortality, heart and lung disease, sexually transmitted infections, adolescent pregnancies, injuries, homicides, and disability. Together, such issues place the U.S. at the bottom of the list for life expectancy. On Average, a U.S. male can expect to live almost four fewer years then those in the top-ranked country."

I can't help but think that every other industrialized country in the world is watching the US right now and literally laughing at our stupidity. It is time for us to get educated and fight for the health of our entire country. The data speaks for itself, there is a correlation between health care markers (particularly women's health and the health of young children) and the provision of health insurance coverage to ALL citizens. Public health research has long shown that when the health of our poorest citizens suffers then so does the health of those at the top. Now it is time for those at the top to stop being sold out to the lobbyists from big health care business and stand up for the health of every American. Because whether you like it or not, the current system is not working, and we are ALL in this together.

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