U.S. is worst in preventable death rankings

France best, U.S. worst in preventable death ranking
By Will Dunham Tue Jan 8, 12:21 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) --the United States worst in new rankings focusing on preventable deaths due to treatable conditions in 19 leading industrialized nations, researchers said on Tuesday. If the U.S. health care system performed as well as those of those top three countries, there would be 101,000 fewer deaths in the United States per year, according to researchers writing in the journal Health Affairs. -- ...such deaths an important way to gauge the performance of a country's health care system. Nolte said the large number of Americans who lack any type of health insurance -- about 47 million people in a country of about 300 million, according to U.S. government estimates -- probably was a key factor in the poor showing of the United States compared to other industrialized nations in the study.--health care in the U.S. is pretty good [only] if you have access-- the U.S. fell four places in the latest rankings. ... "It is startling to see the U.S. falling even farther behind on this crucial indicator of health system performance," "...other countries are reducing these preventable deaths more rapidly, yet spending far less,..."