Tuesday, September 22, 2009

What "Everybody" knows about the US Healthcare system...

Now this may come as a shock, but the Commission is not against improving our Healthcare system, and is in fact open to a number of the changes that are being suggested...

But the root of the 108Warren Commission is skepticism... and the Commission is always skeptical of things that "everyone knows are true."

"Everyone knows" that European Healthcare is better than what we have here in the US -- if you have any doubts, just look at life expectancy -- a kid born today in the US has a shorter life expectancy than a child born in most of the European countries, and Japan too.

Now comes word in the New York Times (of all places) that maybe what "Everyone" knows about our healthcare being worse than Europe's might not be accurate after all...
...a prominent researcher, Samuel H. Preston, has taken a closer look at the growing body of international data, and he finds no evidence that America’s health care system is to blame for the longevity gap between it and other industrialized countries. In fact, he concludes, the American system in many ways provides superior treatment even when uninsured Americans are included in the analysis.

Apparently the fact that America has a significantly more diverse population, and until recently lead the world in cigarette consumption for decades, has far more to do with our health outcomes than the quality of our healthcare...

Maybe we should take a closer look at some of the rest of the things that "Everyone" knows about our healthcare system before we make any final changes... Sometimes it really is worthwhile to go back and check the facts...