U.S. Worst in Preventable Deaths?
- Posted by Julia Shea on January 11th, 2008
filed in Healthcare Marketing |
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I was shocked by the research report released this week rating the U.S. DEAD LAST (pun intended) among NINETEEN industrialized nations for “preventable deaths”! PDs are those that could have been prevented by access to timely, effective health care. Heart disease, stroke, cancers, diabetes, bacterial infections, and complications from surgery were the key culprits.
Apparently, you have a much better chance of staying alive if you are French, Japanese or Australian. France rates best with 64 PDs per 100,000 people. Japan is 2nd with 71.2 and Australia is a close 3rd at 71.3. The U.S. trailed at 109.7 PDs. If we did as well as the Top 3, we’d save 101,000 Americans per year.
As I read on, I realized this data is really not all that startling. It’s all about access — and the 47 million people who lack health insurance. So the message here is not that we have bad healthcare. Just that it’s really bad that so many people don’t have it.
To make matters worse, other countries are improving faster than us. Their numbers have improved over the last ranking, while the U.S. is falling even farther behind.
Makes me think Massachusetts may not have such a bad idea with their mandated health insurance. In MA, health insurance is kinda like car insurance. You have to have it. You’re penalized if you don’t. Maximum penalty was $219 in 07 and may quadruple to $912 in 08. It seems to be making a difference as 290,000 residents have signed up since the law went into effect 6 months ago. In coming years, it would be interesting to see how MA compares with the rest of the U.S., the other 18 countries, and its past in the PD ranking.