Is the US Health Care System bad?

How do you judge the quality of a county's health care system? In comparing the US health care system to other countries is it a good idea to use life expectancy as a yard stick? How about the number of uninsured? How about how expensive it is?

Repeatedly, the facts - and they are facts - that the US has lower life expectancy and higher infant mortality are trumpeted as proof that the US health care system is inferior to the rest of the world. Also, a lot of attention is drawn to the fact that there are 47 million uninsured people in the US. Additionally, the high costs, as measured as a percentage of GDP is usually cited as an example of waste and a poor system.

A recent New York Times article, breaks down these three facts into what they do and don't mean:

1. The US has lower life expectancy and higher infant mortality than the rest of the developed world where they have nationalized health care.

This is true. Canadian men live 2.3 years longer and Canadian women 2.6 years longer than American men and women. Infant mortality is 6.8 per 1,000 births in the US versus 5.3 per 1,000 in Canada.

Why is that? Is it because of the poorer health care system in the US? That's the idea put forth in Michael Moore's movie Sicko. But Moore should know better, especially considering he did a whole movie about guns in America. What does he think happens to average life expectancy when there is a gun fatality in this country? How about car accidents? These accidents bring down the life expectancy statistic, while having nothing to do with the quality of health care. Obesity rates are also a factor contributing to life expectancy, while not having a whole lot to do with health care quality.

As for infant mortality, the US has dramatically more teenage births than other countries, three times as many as Canada. Teenage births on average lead to lower birth weight babies which leads to more infant fatalities. As other countries aren't seeing as many low birth weight babies the statistic of infant mortality does not compare from country to country.

2. There are 47 million uninsured in America.

Again, this is true. But who are the uninsured? The article estimates that 10 million of that number are illegal immigrants, and another unknown number qualify for Medicaid but have not yet applied. Additionally, about 18 million of that 47 million make over $50,000 a year and are choosing not to buy insurance. Additionally, "a quarter of the uninsured have been offered employer-provided insurance but declined coverage." This is not to say many find it difficult to afford insurance, but the 47 million figure is misleading.

3. Health care costs are consuming an ever increasing amount of American incomes.

True. Health care spending constitutes 16 percent of national income, up from five percent in 1950. Is this bad? What percent should it be? The article points out that Americans are richer, a lot richer than in 1950. What would you expect Americans to spend it on? It makes sense that as America becomes richer a larger percentage would be spend on trying to improve their health, as opposed to buying more stuff.