Someone said to me the other day that the US has the best health care system in the world.  Those kinds of blanket statements make me cringe. I immediately looked up our health care rating.  I anticipated it wouldn't be good; I was shocked at how poorly our nation's system ranked. 

The Commonwealth Fund studied preventable deaths in most modern nations.  The US ranked 14th out of 14.  Here's a further excerpt:

"In 1997–98 the U.S. ranked 15th out of 19 countries on the "mortality amenable to health care" measure. However, by 2002–03 the U.S. fell to last place, with 109 deaths amenable to health care for every 100,000 people. In contrast, mortality rates per 100,000 people in the leading countries were: France (64), Japan (71), and Australia (71). The other countries included in the study were Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom."

OK, so we didn't do well in preventable deaths, but our system as a whole is sound.  Right? Not according to the 1997 estimates conducted by the World Health Organization.  The US ranked 37th on overall health system performance.  We were behind Chile, Columbia and Morocco! 

But guess what?  We spend more of our GDP - 15.2 percent - on health care than any other western nation.  In case you were wondering, Switzerland was the highest-spender in Europe, coming in at 11.4 percent.

I do firmly believe that at places like the Mayo Clinic and Houston's Med Center, Americans have access to the most advanced care. Unfortunately, those centers of first-class medicine do not reach the population as a whole. 

I really worry about what will happen if we don't fix our medical system.  We're already spending more money than we have - and borrowing heavily from China to do so.  How will we pay down our debts and increase those Americans who need coverage at the same time?  I don't think the current bill is necessarily the answer, but I am terrified Congress will end up doing nothing. 

And more preventable deaths and out-of-control spending will ensure.