Monday, March 11

When it comes to health care, the U.S. is asking all the wrong questions

"…we do not have a health care system in America. We have a disease-management system -- one that depends on ruinously expensive drugs and surgeries that treat health conditions after they manifest rather than giving our citizens simple diet, lifestyle and therapeutic tools to keep them healthy.
"The brutal fact is that we spend more on health care than any other country -- an estimated $9,348 per capita in 2013 -- and get shockingly little for our money.
"The U.S. 'currently ranks lowest on a variety of health measures,' concludes a new report from an expert panel commissioned by the National Institutes of Health. Specifically, Americans have more obesity, more sexually transmitted diseases, shorter life expectancies and higher infant mortality than the inhabitants of nearly all of the 16 developed 'peer' countries studied.
"Why? A major culprit is a medical system based on maximizing profits rather than fostering good health."