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[quote]People living in England enjoy better health than Americans, despite less investment in healthcare, research published in the US has revealed.

Across all ages, US residents tend to fare worse in terms of diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease markers, data on over 100,000 people show.

The reason remains a mystery, says the US team, and challenges the idea that resources necessarily improve health.

It may be due to the UK's bigger drive on disease prevention, they say.
Transatlantic health gap

Despite the greater use of health care technology in the US, Americans receive less preventive health care than their English counterparts.

They have fewer physician consultations per year.

Acute hospital visits are also shorter in the US, potentially resulting in missed opportunities for follow-up, say the report authors in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
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Why health status differs so dramatically in these two countries, which share much in terms of history and culture, is an unresolved puzzleâ€

The reason remains a mystery? WTF? How about unlike the US, the UK actually has a healthcare system designed to provide, you know, healthcare?
The same reason pretty much every other western country has superior healthcare to the US?

As always, Batman, I seriously doubt that is the sole reason.

General Havoc wrote:As always, Batman, I seriously doubt that is the sole reason.

I bet it's the magical regenerative powers of blood pudding and "chips".

E: No, but it really is access. Our system is pretty good, provided you're an affluent city dweller with a generous insurance policy and liquid assets that can be spent for medical care in an emergency. Otherwise... it's not so good, and I don't think the PPACA has enough juice in it to resolve the structural problem, which is that the means by which we pay for health care is a consumer commodity by which investors profit; whether people actually get treated is a smidge further down the priority list.

Although I suppose one could also argue that poverty itself probably contributes to our poor shape - we're drowning in cheap, calorie-dense junk food and when you're earning minimum wage you can't really splurge on expensive vegetables and free-range eggs. Gym memberships also cost money, and poverty imposes a degree of anxiety and stress that exacerbates existing conditions.

Here's a cool study about the intersection of poverty and poor health in the US:

http://www.olycap.org/media/AJPM_-_Woolf_Oct06.pdf

Oh, and google "food deserts" for another reason.

Derek Thunder wrote:I bet it's the magical regenerative powers of blood pudding and "chips".

Well, honestly, if you had to eat British food, you'd lose weight too.

Access is right, but Derek and Bats fail to comprehend the access is beyond just healthcare. One of these two nations has 'Ketchup' defined as a vegetable by federal law, after all. Access to primary care. Lack of the massive influence of corn-syrup over sugar. Lack of at least one fat slob on the radio telling his cultists cutting down salt in their diet is 'ridiculous'(Said fat slob is Bill'O.). Access to more nutricious food.

Actually, let me draw on my experience. If you seek the advice of things like the FDA for how to make a low-sodium diet, you get.. Nada. If you seek it from the Brits, you get a set of suggestions, replacements, and foods that even old pensioner's can understand.

I am 100% for accessible free clinics that can perform checkups and help people stay healthy. Preventative medicine and education can make a WORLD of difference with the most pressing health matters for the US.

Another factor is inequality. The higher the level of inequality the worse health gets, even for the elite. "The Spirit Level" covers this in some detail and it holds true not only between nations, but in comparing all fifty US states against each other.

Yes - wouldn't the uber-rich like to have very well-practiced doctors, who have certainly Seen It All when working on millions of poorer people, and thus can competently and safely perform their operation when it's Mr. Bigwallet on the table?

KlavoHunter wrote:Yes - wouldn't the uber-rich like to have very well-practiced doctors, who have certainly Seen It All when working on millions of poorer people, and thus can competently and safely perform their operation when it's Mr. Bigwallet on the table?

The rich have better access to health care, but in countries with greater inequality the stress levels on everyone is higher and that leads to worse health. While Bill Gates will have enough money to treat anything that can be treated, a family with "merely" millions can be wiped out by a serious chronic condition. In addition, the rich don't live in a bubble. Things that fuck up society as a whole may land more heavily on everyone else, but they aren't immune.