The World Health Organization's ranking of the world's health systems

http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html ^

[darkness78]

1 France 2 Italy 3 San Marino 4 Andorra 5 Malta 6 Singapore 7 Spain 8 Oman 9 Austria 10 Japan 11 Norway 12 Portugal 13 Monaco 14 Greece 15 Iceland 16 Luxembourg 17 Netherlands 18 United Kingdom 19 Ireland 20 Switzerland 21 Belgium 22 Colombia 23 Sweden 24 Cyprus 25 Germany 26 Saudi Arabia 27 United Arab Emirates 28 Israel 29 Morocco 30 Canada 31 Finland 32 Australia 33 Chile 34 Denmark 35 Dominica 36 Costa Rica 37 United States of America 38 Slovenia 39 Cuba 40 Brunei

[darkness78]

Hhm! Is WHO an other anti-american organisation?

[agere_contra]

Yes. If nothing else, because it puts your health system below ours here in Britain.

[AirForceBrat23]

I've been stuck in the waiting area of an ER in London for five hours... there were puddles of pee on the floor. NO WAY are they better than the US.

[Faithfull]

WHO is definitely anti-american. The stats just for Canada alone prove the fallacy of this report. Canada's cancer surival rate is 30% of the USA- fact. The CEO of a company I work with informed me that the majority of his employees and associates now work to pay for private insurance vs. socialized health care. They simply can not get into see specialists for weeks, cancer treatments are delayed for months, etc. I can't imagine why some good honest reporters don't report on the failure of the socialized health care systems around the world.

[PeteB570]

I see a lot of people coming from those counties to ours to get care.

WHO can say what it wants but people with money appear to be voting with their feet.

[ethics]

I agree!

IF THE USA'S HEALTH system is so bad then everybody should go to Canada for their health care!

[bcsco]

During my last visit with my doctor, she drifted off into comments about the health systems of Canada and the United Kingdom. They weren't kind remarks, let me leave it at that.

I forget what prompted her comments, but I was surprised; first at her willingness to share them, and second at her obvious fervor.

[Moose4]

France is #1? You mean the country that can't keep thousands of its own elderly from dying of heatstroke during a summer heat wave? THAT France?

}:-)4

[pieceofthepuzzle]

This is trash based on meaningless statistics that don't reflect reality. For example, the WHO definition of neonatal mortality and infant mortality do not take into account the fact that in the US premature babies and babies who are severely ill are aggressively supported and treated. A proportion of these children won't make it, and it reflects on our system, statistically, as an increase in infant mortality. If you had a sick infant, God forbid, what country would you rather be in?

Also, in hospital deaths after aggressive treatment may be higher in the US, but this is because we throw a lot more resources at end of life treatment and critical care. Whether or not we should do this is a topic for in depth discussion, but these types of numbers are not an indictment of the US medical system. It is by far the most advanced medical system in the world.

[pieceofthepuzzle]

"France is #1? You mean the country that can't keep thousands of its own elderly from dying of heatstroke during a summer heat wave? THAT France? "

Those who died before making it to the hospital would likely not be reflected in WHO health care statistics. Besides, it's all because of Bush and US induced climate change (sarc).

[sig226]

Keep in mind that the United States functions as an adjunct to Canadian socialized medicine, so they can use both systems. It's better for them. :)

[Joy in the Journey]

Just when one thinks they've seen it all, this comes out.

I feel like I'm living in Bizarro world.

[Toskrin]

37 United States of America ... 39 Cuba

Heh.

[timm22]

I'm always suspicious of the "rankings" released by most international organizations. Typically, they'll throw in something about "fairness" or "inequality" to make sure that America is ranked below more collectivist-minded nations. This WHO study is no different. From their report:

In designing the framework for health system performance, WHO broke new methodological ground, employing a technique not previously used for health systems. It compares each country’s system to what the experts estimate to be the upper limit of what can be done with the level of resources available in that country. It also measures what each country’s system has accomplished in comparison with those of other countries.

WHO’s assessment system was based on five indicators: overall level of population health; health inequalities (or disparities) within the population; overall level of health system responsiveness (a combination of patient satisfaction and how well the system acts); distribution of responsiveness within the population (how well people of varying economic status find that they are served by the health system); and the distribution of the health system’s financial burden within the population (who pays the costs).

The majority of their indicators are measures of "fairness", not total health care quality. The U.S. can have the most highly trained doctors, the most advanced medical technology, and the cleanest and most comfortable hospitals...but still rank below a society where the shaman-physicians give the same voodoo to the tribal chief as they do to his subjects.

[Hardastarboard]

some good honest reporters

There's your problem, bud. There aren't any in the MSM.

[Melchior]

Italy? Italy #2?? My Lord, one should never, repeat never, get sick in Italy. For God's sake they still "bleed" patients. And the only response to most conditions is an injectable with a dirty needle. Italy indeed!!

[PBRSTREETGANG]

So we're ranked #37?

Is that good enough to get us into the tournament?

[chudogg]

Those who died before making it to the hospital would likely not be reflected in WHO health care statistics. Besides, it's all because of Bush and US induced climate change (sarc).

No, as i recall, most of the hospital rooms were not fitted with air conditioners since they apparently dont have that techonology in France, and also most of the hospital workforce was taking their month long vacation for August and wouldnt report back to work even with the rush of heatwave victims.

[Leisler]

During the Rwandas massacres, the WHO was running a seat belt buckle up campaign. Bill boards everywhere, even though the country had few roads, people owned few cars and there was a little problem with hundreds of thousands of people being hacked to death.

WHO headquarters is overlooking a nice lake in Switzerland. it's Administrative budget for reports like this is well over a billion dollars a year. It provides no heath car is is a policy wonk employment project.

It's basically joined at the hip with the UN.

So, to not answer your question. What do you think?

[pieceofthepuzzle]

Point taken. Incidentally, I was recently asked by a friend to help him get a portable defibrillator for his father in Germany. He wanted to buy one in the US and send it to his father because the German health care system wouldn't pay for him to have an implantable defibrillator. But their system is better than ours. Just ask the WHO.