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“For myself, I am an optimist. … It does not seem to be much use being anything else!”
-- Sir Winston Churchill
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No Debating These Health Care Facts
The Obama administration, Congress, small and large companies, self-employed individuals and millions of Americans are all searching for ways to improve the U.S. health care system and contain health care costs. While they often disagree on how best to do it and how to pay for it, there appears to be general agreement that emphasizing wellness and prevention is a logical step in the right direction.
Time magazine recently noted five indisputable facts about health care:
1. The United States spends more on health care than any other country. Total spending in the U.S. on health care amounts to 16 percent of the GDP, or $7,026 per person, compared to 10 percent of Canada’s GDP ($3,912 per capita) and 7.9 percent of Japan’s ($2,690 per capita).
2. For all the money spent, Americans are not healthier. The U.S. life expectancy is 77.9 years, versus 83 years in Japan and 81 years in Canada. The U.S. infant mortality rate ranks 29th in the world, tied with Slovakia and Poland.
3. Smoking is on the decline. Only 19.8 percent of U.S. adults light up, but tobacco still kills about 443,000 Americans each year.
4. Better treatments curb top killers. In 1980, about seven out of 10 adults died from heart disease, cancer or stroke. Today that number is closer to five out of 10.
5. Millions don’t have health insurance. A recent study found that thousands of Americans die each year due to lack of timely and effective health care. Fifteen percent of the population remains uninsured.
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