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Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Obviously the obvious explanation is obviously wrong

The U.S. spends more than twice as much on health care per capita than England, but the Brits are substantially healthier, according to a new study. Researchers looked only at white folks ages 55-64 to eliminate any racial disparities. They even showed that if Brits were as fat as Americans they would STILL be healthier. In fact, the researchers managed to rule out pretty much every factor--except that England has universal health care, and the US doesn't.

But that can't be it, according to the two guys AP asked--one who worked on the study (Marmot) and one who didn't:
However, Britain's universal health-care system shouldn't get credit for better health, Marmot and Blendon agreed.

Both said it might explain better health for low-income citizens, but can't account for better health of England's more affluent residents.

Marmot cautioned against looking for explanations in the two countries' health-care systems.
Because it is written in the Constitution, or maybe it's in the bible, that universal health care doesn't work. Never mind that it works everywhere else; this is America. If we say it doesn't work, it doesn't work. And we're willing to waste over $5000 a year per capita on for-profit medical care, and tens of thousands of lives, to prove our point, even if (when) it kills us.