Does private healthcare work? According to the Tories it does. However, we only have to look at the state of play in the USA to see the grim reality as this article from the US edition of Socialist Appeal shows.
According to a study published in the academic journal Health Affairs,
the United States now ranks 49th in the world in overall life
expectancy, a dramatic fall from just a few years ago. In 1999, the US
ranked 24th.
Photo: Steve Rhodes“As
of September 23, 2010, the United States ranked forty-ninth for both
male and female life expectancy combined,” concludes the study,
conducted by Columbia University health policy professors Peter A.
Muennig and Sherry A. Glied.
The report found the prime culprit of the plunge to be America’s
deteriorating health care system, marred by ever-rising costs and
growing numbers of uninsured and under-insured individuals.
Noting that the United States spends over twice as much per capita
on health care than other industrialized nations, it adds: “The
observation that Americans are spending relatively more on health but
living relatively shorter, less healthy lives has led some critics to
allege that the US health care system is ‘uniquely inefficient.’”
findings present a stark contrast to the claim by defenders of
for-profit healthcare that the United States has the best health care
system in the world. The United States remains the only advanced
industrialized country without a universal health care program. In
short, unless you are wealthy, US capitalism is deadly dangerous to
your health!
Thanks to Healthcare Now! for information used in this article.
Source: Socialist Appeal (USA)
