Study Shows Americans Sicker Than English
http://news.yahoo.com/...
By CARLA K. JOHNSON and MIKE STOBBE, Associated Press Writers
Tue May 2, 10:47 PM ET
CHICAGO - White, middle-aged Americans ? even those who are rich ? are far less healthy than their peers in England, according to stunning new research that erases misconceptions and has experts scratching their heads.
Americans had higher rates of diabetes, heart disease, strokes, lung disease and cancer ? findings that held true no matter what income or education level.
Those dismal results are despite the fact that U.S. health care spending is double what England spends on each of its citizens.
Everybody should be discussing it: Why isn't the richest country in the world the healthiest country in the world?" asks study co-author Dr. Michael Marmot, an epidemiologist at University College London in England.
The study, based on government statistics in both countries, adds context to the already-known fact that the United States spends more on health care than any other industrialized nation, yet trails in rankings of life expectancy.
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The only guess I can come up with is that universal access to health care benefits the UK wealthy even if they pay for their own medical care, because the UK wealthy are exposed to far fewer contagious diseases, because people who feel ill don't worry about whether they can afford a doctor or not, they just go. Perhaps the health problems Americans are more likely to get than UK residents are those that result from compromised immune systems.