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Tuesday, 22 October 2013

US’s fattened health care costs in pictorial glory

The Huffington Post in less than a decade positioned itself as a forerunner in electronic journalism, something that traditional newsprint based or even television based media have not been as successful in accomplishing.  In 2011, AOL purchased the company for $315 Million, and in 2012 one of its commentary series took a Pulitzer prize.  The point being, if you are wanting to stay on top of news globally, nationally or even regionally – plug in to Huff.

In the midst of the US government shutdown, the Huffpost did a piece on why US health care is so expensive, and helped negate the myth that Americans don’t pay much for health care through their tax dollars.  According to Huff, US citizens actually are paying more in taxes for health care per capita than Canadians. 

So the story is well worth reading, okay its not a story other than 12 pictures – but a picture tells a whole story.  From  demonstrating the costs for health care, hospitalization and  drugs,  through poorer health outcomes and life expectancy, the series of 12 graphs tell a bleak story of inefficiency and poor quality. 

The international comparison from a US perspective incorporates Canada in 2/3rds of the graphs and provides a good overview of the relative benefit and inefficiencies of the Canadian system.  The data are from OCED Health data and sliced for public consumption in a fashion that tells an American story with international flavour.

The full article can be accessed at  Huffingtonpost october 3 2013 

Having adequately complimented Huffington for its work, unabashedly below find some of the key graphics “stolen” from the website for DrPHealth viewers to get a taste of what the full article will provide.






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