American Health Care System and Life Expectancy Research

[Christopher]

That question assumes those traits are uniquely American.

No, it does not assume that. America having a higher percentage of its population with unhealthy lifestyles makes it unique and something to consider when looking at health statistics. You did not look at the research on American longevity and its relationship (or lack thereof) to American health care presented in this thread, did you?

The results the research in the OP derived are a lot different from what other studies have shown. While he claims lifestyle factors account for most of the difference, other studies have shown lifestyle only accounts for about three percent of the difference.

Please provide links to these other studies then.

Here is something from the NY Times article on how the statistics are affected when considering just smoking:

Dr. Preston and other researchers have calculated that if deaths due to smoking were excluded, the United States would rise to the top half of the longevity rankings for developed countries.

Also from the article:

Dr. Preston says he saw no evidence for the much-quoted estimates that poor health care is responsible for more preventable deaths in the United States than in other developed countries.

 

[manu1959]

Two weeks and no response. Just shows they will ignore this information.

they just dont believe our lifestyles have anything to do with it.....DUMB.....but what are you going to do?.........

Very nice of you do decide what we liberals believe, or do not believe. Typical for someone that fails to do any research.

So that also explains the fact that we also have a third world infant mortality rate? That our death among our young children from childhood respitory diseases is more than 40 times that of Canada's.

Japan has the highest longevity, France is next, and then comes little Costa Rica. Would you care to compare what each of these nations spend per citizen on health care to what we spend? How about health care as a per centage of their GDP?

Perhaps their dedication to pro-active care may be a significant factor, also.

yes the poor lifestyle choices of the citizens has nothing to do with it.....

 

[Christopher]

That question assumes those traits are uniquely American.

No, it does not assume that. America having a higher percentage of its population with unhealthy lifestyles makes it unique and something to consider when looking at health statistics. You did not look at the research on American longevity and its relationship (or lack thereof) to American health care presented in this thread, did you?

The results the research in the OP derived are a lot different from what other studies have shown. While he claims lifestyle factors account for most of the difference, other studies have shown lifestyle only accounts for about three percent of the difference.

Perhaps you still need more time to find all these other studies?