Greatest Health Care System in the World?

Maybe for John Boehner. But he's well covered (and not just with Ban de Soleil Mega Tan) by the federal government. But what about the rest of us? Those of us who are too lazy or stupid to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and become congressmen. I suppose that if number one means the freedom to go bankrupt because of medical bills, we fit that bill. USA! USA! But, really, by what metric are we number one? How do we compare with the rest of the western democracies? For the sake of clarity I'll limit the comparison to prosperous western democracies, the ones that supply health care to all their citizens.Unless you live in Texas or Mississippi it is hardly fair to compare our circumstances with the Republic of Congo. Lets take a tour -

Average life expectancy (from our friends at the CIA) :

1

Monaco

89.78

2010 est.

2	Macau	84.38	2010 est.

3	San Marino	82.95	2010 est.

4	Andorra	82.36	2010 est.

5	Japan	82.17	2010 est.

6	Guernsey	82.08	2010 est.

7	Singapore	82.06	2010 est.

8	Hong Kong	81.96	2010 est.

9	Australia	81.72	2010 est.

10	Canada	81.29	2010 est.

11	Jersey	81.28	2010 est.

12	France	81.09	2010 est.

13	Spain	81.07	2010 est.

14	Sweden	80.97	2010 est.

15	Switzerland	80.97	2010 est.

16	Israel	80.86	2010 est.

17	Iceland	80.79	2010 est.

18	Anguilla	80.77	2010 est.

19	Bermuda	80.60	2010 est.

20	Cayman Islands	80.57	2010 est.

21	Isle of Man	80.53	2010 est.

22	New Zealand	80.48	2010 est.

23	Italy	80.33	2010 est.

24	Liechtenstein	80.19	2010 est.

25	Norway	80.08	2010 est.

26	Ireland	80.07	2010 est.

27	Jordan	79.92	2010 est.

28	United Kingdom	79.92	2010 est.

29	Greece	79.80	2010 est.

30	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	79.74	2010 est.

31	Austria	79.65	2010 est.

32	Malta	79.59	2010 est.

33	Faroe Islands	79.58	2010 est.

34	Netherlands	79.55	2010 est.

35	Luxembourg	79.48	2010 est.

36	Germany	79.41	2010 est.

37	Belgium	79.37	2010 est.

38	Virgin Islands	79.19	2010 est.

39	Finland	79.13	2010 est.

40	Wallis and Futuna	78.83	2010 est.

41	European Union	78.82	2010 est.

42	Korea, South	78.81	2010 est.

43	Puerto Rico	78.77	2010 est.

44	Bosnia and Herzegovina	78.66	2010 est.

45	Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha	78.60	2010 est.

46	Gibraltar	78.53	2010 est.

47	Denmark	78.47	2010 est.

48	Portugal	78.38	2010 est.

49	United States	78.24	2010 est.

50	Taiwan	78.15	2010 est.

OK. Top 50 isn't too bad. At least we beat Taiwan. And there is no indication that this is healthcare related, even though those countries that beat us have some version of Obamacare - only better. It may well be lifestyle. Compare a bunch of fish eaters to us Twinkie soaked Americans? - no fair!

If by best Speaker Boehner means most expensive he may well have a point-

  Per Capita health expenditures in US dollars:
Iceland - $3294
Australia- $3123
Canada- $3173
France - $3040
United Kingdom -$2560
Japan - $2293
United States - $6096

Yay! Numero Uno! We get to spend twice as much as those countries listed above and still manage to rank below them in average life expectancy. Maybe Boehner meant something else. Maybe he meant that, despite all evidence to the contrary, we think we have the best health care system in the world. Let's see - (from Fox news, no less)

Here's someone who's already laid it all out (I could have saved myself the trouble):
Percent of people who believe their health care system needs fundamental  change:

United States   60%
Sweden          58
United Kingdom  52
Japan           47
Netherlands     46
France          42
Canada          38

We won again. To recap - the United States has the best health care system if you are a wealthy Republican congressman. Or an Insurance executive. Or maybe a plastic surgeon. Basically Boehner is full of shit. But you knew that already. Boehner is afraid, and rightly so, that once the American people find out the benefits of the incremental changes in the admittedly flawed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act   they will come to view  universal health care as a fundamental right in a prosperous and civilized society.  Boehner and the Republican party has never gotten over the fact that Social Security and Medicare are popular and irreversible accomplishments of American progressives. Just like Boehner can't get over the tan tax.