> -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Charlie Bell > Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 10:53 PM > To: Killer Bs Discussion > Subject: Re: U.S. health care
> 'm not sure you have an adequate picture of the US system and how it > > works for the average person who works for a big company. > > I have an adequate picture of the US system being ranked well below > several European ones... Which is certainly enough for Schadenfreude, but not for solving the problem. Let me give you an example from one of the clearest numbers for which the US performs relatively poorly: infant mortality. The US's rate, about 7/5000 live births is far above the EU rate of 5.6/1000. This is a horrid statistic. We find, though, that the white, non-Hispanic rate is close to the EU: 5.8/1000. The black rate, on the other hand, is very high: 13.8. There is an obvious conclusion to be reached: this is a function of the disparity of income between whites and blacks causing differences in medical care. However, looking at different numbers, we see that it's not this simple. The Hispanic rate (5.7/1000) is below that of white, non-Hispanics at 5.7. While Hispanic households average more income than black households (I'd guess it's because of the greater likelihood of a Hispanic household containing multiple adults) its far closer to the black number than the white, non-Hispanic. Further, one sees that even black women who completed college have a significantly worse rate than white women who haven't completed grade school. 10.6/1000 vs. 6.3/1000. These data indicate that something besides income is affecting the situation. One good candidate, bemoaned by black ministers and physicians, is the general distrust of physicians by the black community. They are far less likely to use medical services than Hispanics or non-Hispanic whites, even when it is available. That problem will not be solved by switching the system of insurance. That's just one example of the complexity of the problem, there are a score. There is no flip solution to the problems with the US health care system. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
