LOW LIFE EXPECTANCY IN THE UNITED STATES?

Subject: txt hcare msm -
The United States ranked 29th in the world in 2006 in life expectancy at age 50, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). That places it more than three years behind the world's leader, Japan, and more than one-and-a-half years behind Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Iceland, Spain and Switzerland.

Despite the WHO study's contention, the low longevity ranking of the United States is not likely a result of a poorly functioning health care system,

But according to researchers with the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the WHO's numbers are highly suspect. Its data shows that, on the contrary, the United States functions well compared to Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in terms of death avoidance:

• Mortality reductions from prostate and breast cancers have been exceptionally rapid in the United States relative to a set of peer countries.
• These unusually rapid declines are attributable to wider screening and more aggressive treatment of these diseases.
• Screening for other cancers also appears unusually extensive, and five-year survival rates from all of the major cancers are very favorable.
• Survival rates following heart attack and stroke are also favorable and the proportion of people with elevated blood pressure or cholesterol levels who are receiving medication is well above European standards.

It's noteworthy that while in the United States reporting entities are usually not those responsible for care, the exact opposite is true in many OECD countries who's governments essentially run, and report on, their health care systems...

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