U.S. Does Poor Job Preventing Premature Deaths

The U.S. spends more per-capita on health care but lags behind most other industrialized nations when it comes to preventable deaths, the Washington Post reported Oct. 6.

Americans are more likely to die from preventable causes like diabetes, epilepsy, stroke, influenza, ulcers and pneumonia than residents of these other countries, according to a recent report in the journal Health Affairs. The Commonwealth Fund study found that the U.S. ranked last out of 19 nations in preventable deaths in 2002-03, with researchers saying that 100,000 deaths could be prevented if the U.S. health system was on par with those in France, Japan, or Australia.

“All of these countries have much lower costs than we do,” said Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) during the debate on national healthcare reform. “And they have higher quality outcomes than ours.”

Experts said that some Americans get very good health care, while other get substandard care that contributes to premature deaths. Those with insurance fare well, but 80 percent of Americans are uninsured or underinsured, meaning they have little access to regular checkups, screening tests, or preventive services.