I am going to do a brief series about health care (again), and I consider last week the first in that series. I want to evaluate the claim which was a fixture of the McCain campaign and has since become a talking point on Fox News: “The USA has the best health care system in the world.”
The question is, what is the evidence for this claim? I have never heard them quote any statistics in support, nor could I find any on the internet. I have two guesses about the popularity of that quote. The first is that we Americans love to tell ourselves that we are the best. In everything. And so I assume that the phrase in question resonates well. The second is that even though there is no statistical support for this claim, there is some anecdotal evidence. The fact is that when rich foreigners need surgery, they tend to fly in to the good ole USA. So doesn’t that mean that we have the best health care system in the world?
The answer is yes – unless you are a Christian. One thing about Christians is our upside-down value system. Instead of valuing the great, powerful , and rich, Jesus told us that the weak, meek, and poor are the ones who are really well off. For those with money, this is indeed the best health care system in the world. That must be why the rich fly to America for surgery. But if you are a ‘have-not,’ this is the worst (37th) of all the first world countries. In America, money leads to health, and poverty leads to sickness. And no, the good health care does not ‘trickle down.’ If such a thing happened, it already would have. America’s health care system has already been tested, and found to be wildly successful for the rich, and neglectful of the poor. And that gap only appears to be widening with time.
So if you insist that America has the best health care system in the world, what do you mean? Which people do you include in your calculus?
