U.S. still flunks healthcare test, group says

The name of this report is "Why Not The Best?"

The answer is clear - reports like this one.

"The United States fails on most measures of health care quality, with Americans waiting longer to see doctors and more likely to die of preventable or treatable illnesses than people in other industrialized countries, a report released on Thursday said.

Americans squander money on wasteful administrative costs, illnesses caused by medical error and inefficient use of time, the report from the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund concluded.

'We lead the world in spending. We should be expecting much more in return,' Commonwealth Fund senior vice president Cathy Schoen told reporters.

The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation, created a 100-point scorecard using 37 indicators such as health outcomes, quality, access and efficiency.

They compare the U.S. average on these to the best performing states, counties or hospitals, and to other countries. The United States scored 65 -- two points lower than in 2006."

For example, in evaluating "Healthy Lives," the report states, "the US as a whole is falling short in promoting healthy, long, and productive lives for everyone."

Promotion is not the problem. The message is.

Fitness, both physical and nutritional, are the only things individuals can realistically do to improve health. This would go a long way to improving the system.

A repair and rescue system is ruled by garbage in, garbage out.

Clearly, I advocate that the weight loss and fitness advice provided the public is crap and harmful.

But just as clearly, the public is in part culpable for its own miseries since it believes fat people who offer diet and fitness advice (e.g., AdipOprah) and the "experts" anointed by fat people to offer that diet and fitness advice.

The assumption of this report appears to be that the consumer is a passive victim without responsibility.

Until individuals are held accountable for their contributions to their own unwellness, there can be no improvement in sick care.

And we the people can overcome many of the failings of the system.

If we just got smart and stopped treating stupid as a renewable resource.