On Wed, 2008-02-13 at 14:29 -0700, Technomage-hawke wrote:
> On Wednesday 13 February 2008 11:33, Craig White wrote:
> 
> > As for what constitutes a socialized health care delivery system and how
> > they behave or are funded, there are many different concepts in place
> > throughout the world and they do differ.
> >
> > A simple question for those who assert that the health care system as
> > practiced in the United States is the best, why are infant mortality
> > rates so much higher here than elsewhere?
> 
> looks at that one a "per capita" basis. you will find that the mortality rate 
> per percentage of population is actually about the same. the numbers only 
> appear higher because there reports that don't include the other facts.
----
I never stated 'per capita' at all with respect to infant mortality
rates.
----
> your question as asked is in error Craig. I have included below a 
> representative sample of some countries. now, countries like in the EU and 
> canada are lower, but not substantially so, while in other places (the 
> upcoming economic superpowers like india and china) are SUBSTANTIALLY higher.
> 
> if you were to take a rating of the top 100 countries on the planet, you would 
> see that the US rates in the top 15 percentile for lowest infant mortality 
> rates (with japan having the lowest rate I have yet found at 2.8 per 1,000 
> births). so? you asked "why are infant mortality rates so much higher here 
> than elsewhere?" the answer is: they aren't (at least not substantially). 
----
If you look simply at the 'western' civilizations, our infant mortality rates are indeed substantially higher. Our rate is more than twice as high as that of Japan. I suppose we can quibble over what represents substantially but I consider 2:1 factors substantial.

Then if you consider that as a percentage of GDP, we outspend all of those countries on health care and the fact that they have lower infant mortality rates should be a clue that something is wrong here.

Craig

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