US health care system ranks last, France #1, again

Chris in Paris, AmericaBlog.com: The GOP and right wing media lapdogs always cherry pick data about something that failed in a national health system and use that as the excuse for propping up the dysfunctional and costly system that exists in the US. They always fail to recognize the WHO ranking that puts France at the top (Freedom Health, perhaps?) and the US arriving at number 37, just behind global heavyweights Dominica and Costa Rica. Here's another study that they will all want to ignore. Every life is precious, if you can afford health care, might be their new line. At least the US didn't have to compete with Costa Rica this time. Whew!

France, Japan and Australia rated best and the United States worst in new rankings focusing on preventable deaths due to treatable conditions in 19 leading industrialized nations, researchers said on Tuesday.

If the U.S. health care system performed as well as those of those top three countries, there would be 101,000 fewer deaths in the United States per year, according to researchers writing in the journal Health Affairs.