Latest issue in the debate over universal health care:
Americans are living longer than ever but not as long as people in 41 other countries.
The Associated Press reports we’ve been slipping in international rankings of life expectancy as other countries improve health care, nutrition and lifestyle.
Countries that surpass us include Japan, most of Europe, as well as Jordan, Guam and the Cayman Islands.
At the same time, we’ve lost our position as the tallest people on Earth to the Dutch, who average about two inches taller than typical Americans. In fact, American men now rank ninth and women 15th in average height, having fallen short of many other European nations.
Scientists are pondering.
“Something’s wrong here when one of the richest countries in the world, the one that spends the most on health care, is not able to keep up with other countries,” says Dr. Christopher Murray, head of the Institute for Health, Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.
Researchers said several factors have contributed to our falling behind. A major one they city is that 45 million Americans lack health insurance while Canada and most European countries have university health care.
But it’s not as simple as health care.
n Nearly a third of our adults are obese and two-thirds are overweight. We have the resources to become fat and lazy.
n Black Americans have a shorter life expectancy and higher rate of infant mortality.
So here’s the debate: Do we have the best health care system? There’s more at stake than insurance.
Murray says we need to reduce cancer, heart disease, lung disease, tobacco use, and so on.
And I think maybe we need to reduce stress.
We work 28 percent more hours than the French and 25 percent more than the Germans.
Why? Researchers have lots of answers: higher taxes in Europe reduces incentive; stronger unions push for shorter work weeks.
Fact is we work more, pay people to do things – like housework – we might do ourselves with extra time off. And we have a shorter lifespan.
As someone who, at 70, is pondering potential end-of-life issues and also still working, I’m too mired in my lifestyle to change now. I will continue to labor at a computer to pay Lucy to do my dreaded housework.
But maybe I should encourage my grandchildren to play more, go for balance instead of focusing on the work ethic? Maybe there is something to universal health care?
Paying more taxes may be a cheap price to pay for a longer life.
What do you think?
