A healthy investment.The United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. spends more per capita [Latin, By the heads or polls.] A term used in the Descent and Distribution of the estate of one who dies without a will. It means to share and share alike according to the number of individuals. on medical care than any other industrialized in·dus·tri·al·ize v. in·dus·tri·al·ized, in·dus·tri·al·iz·ing, in·dus·tri·al·iz·es v.tr. 1. To develop industry in (a country or society, for example). 2. nation. We spend two and a half times more than Great Britain Great Britain, officially United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, constitutional monarchy (2005 est. pop. 60,441,000), 94,226 sq mi (244,044 sq km), on the British Isles, off W Europe. The country is often referred to simply as Britain. ; and we spend 13 percent of our GDP GDP (guanosine diphosphate): see guanine. on health care, compared with the 8 percent spent by European countries--all for roughly the same amount of physician care and hospital services. American spending on drugs? $556 per person, versus $262 in Europe. Yet we still rank 19th or 20th in overall health: We die younger; we are sicker here than in our peer countries; our infant-mortality rate is 50 percent higher. Given the far greater impact of public-health spending overseas, I wonder where the evidence is behind Stephen Moore's attack on Uncle Sam ("The Week," Dec. 31). It's not from Medicare--this federally funded, completely portable insurance plan spends 98 cents of every dollar on medical care compared with the 80 cents that commercial health plans spend (that's $55 billion plus in extra administration costs). Nor is it from Medicaid, which, despite insuring the sickest population, has experienced similar and perhaps lower annual inflation rates than commercial plans. And were the 1940s an Elysian period for health care, as Moore's article suggests? True, the United States has invested heavily in public health since then, building more hospitals, producing the best-trained doctors in the world, developing new drugs, sanitizing and fluoridating water, and instituting immunization programs In the 1950s, medical breakthroughs resulted in new vaccines to combat such diseases as polio and measles. States responded by requiring mandatory immunization for schoolchildren. One result was the near eradication of diseases that had previously been crippling or fatal. . Was there something wrong in that? Of course not--we have results. We've eradicated polio and smallpox. We rarely die from pneumonia or the flu. Crude surgical practices have advanced such that appendicitis Appendicitis Definition Appendicitis is an inflammation of the appendix, which is the worm-shaped pouch attached to the cecum, the beginning of the large intestine. The appendix has no known function in the body, but it can become diseased. need not kill us. Cancer is no longer a death sentence. We now live 30 years longer. I think we can allow the government, then, to share some credit for our successes. Tom Adelson Oklahoma Secretary of Health Oklahoma City, Okla. |
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