France is healthcare leader, US comes dead last: study

 
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luke



Joined: 11 Feb 2007
Location: by the sea

PostPosted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 8:30 pm    Post subject: France is healthcare leader, US comes dead last: study Reply with quote

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France is healthcare leader, US comes dead last: study

WASHINGTON (AFP) - France is tops, and the United States dead last, in providing timely and effective healthcare to its citizens, according to a survey Tuesday of preventable deaths in 19 industrialized countries.

The study by the Commonwealth Fund and published in the January/February issue of the journal Health Affairs measured developed countries' effectiveness at providing timely and effective healthcare.

The study, entitled "Measuring the Health of Nations: Updating an Earlier Analysis," was written by researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. It looked at death rates in subjects younger than 75 that could have been prevented by timely and effective medical care.

The researchers found that while most countries surveyed saw preventable deaths decline by an average of 16 percent, the United States saw only a four percent dip.

The non-profit Commonwealth Fund, which financed the study, expressed alarm at the findings.

"It is startling to see the US falling even farther behind on this crucial indicator of health system performance," said Commonwealth Fund Senior Vice President Cathy Schoen, who noted that "other countries are reducing these preventable deaths more rapidly, yet spending far less."

The 19 countries, in order of best to worst, were: France, Japan, Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Some countries showed dramatic improvement in the periods studied -- 1997 and 1998 and again between 2002 and 2003 -- outpacing the United States, which showed only slight improvement.

White the United States ranked 15th of 19 between 1997-98, by 2002-03 it had fallen to last place.

"It is notable that all countries have improved substantially except the US," said Ellen Nolte, lead author of the study.

Had the United States performed as well as any of the top three industrialized countries, there would have been 101,000 fewer deaths per year, the researchers said.


from http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080108/ts_alt_afp/ushealthfrancemortality;_ylt=AkGMmRIpPRdmobYsKwlY6Yis0NUE

britain second from last Mad
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Skylace
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Joined: 29 Apr 2006
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

PostPosted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 11:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm not shocked or surprised at all. I am aware of what health care is like over here and it's piss poor for sure.
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eefanincan
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Joined: 29 Apr 2006
Location: Canada

PostPosted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 11:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I see that Canada is 4th from the top, but it's not as great as it might seem. There are well over 5 million people here (half in my province) who can't even get a family dr. The wait times for cancer treatments are over three months for a lot of people. The wait times to see a specialist of any sort are anywhere from 3 to 12 months, depending on what kind of doctor you need to see. People in some nursing homes and hospitals don't even get one tub bath a week, they get a bunch of wet wipes heated up in a bag. The list goes on and on

So, if that's 4th from the top, what's below that must be horrific. But, that being said I'm damn glad to have what I have.
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