A study published in JAMA finds that Americans have higher rates of diabetes, heart disease, strokes, lung disease, and cancer, at all levels of income an education. Snip from NYT:
The study, based on government statistics in both countries, adds context to the already-known fact that the United States spends more on health care than any other industrialized nation, yet trails in rankings of life expectancy.
The United States spends about $5,200 per person on health care while England spends about half that in adjusted dollars.
Even experts familiar with the weaknesses in the U.S. health system seemed stunned by the study's conclusions. ''I knew we were less healthy, but I didn't know the magnitude of the disparities,'' said Gerard Anderson, an expert in chronic disease and international health at Johns Hopkins University who had no role in the research.
''Everybody should be discussing it: Why isn't the richest country in the world the healthiest country in the world?'' asks study co-author Dr. Michael Marmot, an epidemiologist at University College London in England.
Maybe it has something to do with British consumption of mushy peas.
Link (free reg req'd).
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