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If Access to Health Care in the US is so great, why is infant mortality worse than in Cuba and they score dead last in every Health or Life Expectancy Metric am

If Access to Health Care in the US is so great, why is infant mortality worse than in Cuba and they score dead last in every Health or Life Expectancy Metric among the G7?

staringback 3y ago
Have you seen the health of an average American?
greenavocado 3y ago
In case you haven't noticed, the demographics of America have changed a little bit since 1990. We also have a small problem with fentanyl.
skeeter2020 3y ago
It's a little more subtle than this, and of course subtlety is doesn't play well these days, but the US stats vary greatly across geography and ethnic lines. Cuba isn't a great comparison, beyond the shock of "they're worse than a bunch of commies!"
jandrewrogers 3y ago
None of these are primarily medical outcomes. Life expectancy, for example, is skewed by an anomalously high rate of fatal injuries when people are young, which has nothing to do with healthcare quality. For better or worse, trauma medicine in the US is arguably the best in the world because serious injuries are so prevalent. There is also the practical matter that the US is a continent-sized country and regional effects matter. Some US States have life expectancy on par with the best European countries despite the anomalously high fatal injury rates among young people.
- albert180 3y ago
  Uhm no, even the richest households are worse off than the poorest in UK https://www.ft.com/content/653bbb26-8a22-4db3-b43d-c34a0b774303 https://www.ft.com/content/653bbb26-8a22-4db3-b43d-c34a0b774...
  - jandrewrogers 3y ago
    Nothing in that article actually addresses the point. The average life expectancy where I live is currently 83+, despite notably higher fatal injury rates. In terms of actual medical outcomes -- survival rates for cancer, cardiovascular events, trauma medicine, etc -- the UK is quite a bit worse than the US. The only countries that stand out as consistently competing on medical outcomes are France and Switzerland.
    - albert180 3y ago
      Nope, even the richest Americans don't get better health outcomes than the richer European countries https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2774561 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullar...

If Access to Health Care in the US is so great, why is infant mortality worse than in Cuba and they score dead last in every Health or Life Expectancy Metric among the G7?

staringback 3y ago

Have you seen the health of an average American?

greenavocado 3y ago

In case you haven't noticed, the demographics of America have changed a little bit since 1990. We also have a small problem with fentanyl.

skeeter2020 3y ago

It's a little more subtle than this, and of course subtlety is doesn't play well these days, but the US stats vary greatly across geography and ethnic lines. Cuba isn't a great comparison, beyond the shock of "they're worse than a bunch of commies!"

jandrewrogers 3y ago

None of these are primarily medical outcomes. Life expectancy, for example, is skewed by an anomalously high rate of fatal injuries when people are young, which has nothing to do with healthcare quality. For better or worse, trauma medicine in the US is arguably the best in the world because serious injuries are so prevalent. There is also the practical matter that the US is a continent-sized country and regional effects matter. Some US States have life expectancy on par with the best European countries despite the anomalously high fatal injury rates among young people.

albert180 3y ago
Uhm no, even the richest households are worse off than the poorest in UK https://www.ft.com/content/653bbb26-8a22-4db3-b43d-c34a0b774303 https://www.ft.com/content/653bbb26-8a22-4db3-b43d-c34a0b774...
- jandrewrogers 3y ago
  Nothing in that article actually addresses the point. The average life expectancy where I live is currently 83+, despite notably higher fatal injury rates. In terms of actual medical outcomes -- survival rates for cancer, cardiovascular events, trauma medicine, etc -- the UK is quite a bit worse than the US. The only countries that stand out as consistently competing on medical outcomes are France and Switzerland.
  - albert180 3y ago
    Nope, even the richest Americans don't get better health outcomes than the richer European countries https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2774561 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullar...