The United States is the richest, most powerful nation on earth. It cultivates the best doctors, the best training, the best researchers, the best facilities, the best technology, and the most dollars. Therefore, it is logical to think that the United States' health is ranked first, without contest, in the world. Shockingly enough, the World Health Organization ranks America's health as only 37th in the world. A pathetic 37th. It is also logical to think that Americans, provided with such expensive and sophisticated health care, are the longest lived people on earth. The fact is that America's longevity only ranks 26th in the world, behind such countries as France, Spain, Germany, Austria, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Malta, Israel, and our neighbor, Canada. Do you want to live longer? You have a better chance if you leave the United States and live in some other country. The U.S. spends billions of dollars on drugs every year. It spends 1.55 trillion dollars on health care (or, more accurately, "disease care"?), which is about one-half of what the entire world spends on health care. How is it possible that we spend one-half what the rest of the world spends on health care, yet our over all health ranks 37th in the world? In spite of all the drugs, procedures, doctors, research, hospitals, and money spent on our health (or, more accurately, diseases), America's health and disease statistics are very sad indeed. Every year, four out of five Americans die of heart disease or cancer" ?diseases that are usually preventable, not inevitable as many of us think. Approximately one million Americans or fifty per cent die of heart disease alone. There are approximately 4,000 heart attacks every day; 50% which are fatal and 50% of the fatal attacks give no prior warning of heart problems; 50% happen to people under the age of 65. One out of three Americans die of cancer. One out of seven or eight American women dies of breast cancer, skyrocketing from one out of twenty in 1970. Are we winning the war on cancer? I don't think so. Just look at the facts. It's scary. At least 200,000 Americans die of diabetes or related conditions. Close to 25 % of all Americans have high blood pressure. Anywhere from 61% to 85%, depending upon which source is quoted, of all Americans are overweight. 26% to 30% of all Americans are obese (30 pounds or more overweight) which is said to decrease life expectancy by 7 years. Even if you are overweight by 10 to 29 pounds, your life could be decreased by at least 3 years. 25% to 30% of our children are overweight, and many of them are obese, and that figures climbs every year. I have read that if a child is 30 pounds overweight by the time he reaches 20 years old, his life expectancy decreases by 20 years! At least 280,000 deaths every year are attributed to too much weight. Yes, in spite of the U.S.'s wealth, it does not have the most important wealth of all" ?the wealth of health. What are we doing wrong? And a better question to ask yourself is: What can you do right? Right now! |
