All the insanity about health care demands this response:
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Cute. Meanwhile, I’ve read that Mexico is looking to extend health insurance to Mexicans who work in the United States…
No, we are #1 - that #37 bullhockey ... that’s world government evile WHO eugenicist propaganda!
The best part was that he gave the whole list: usually all the countries aren’t listed, so seeing countries popularly (at least based what you see on TV and the movies) considered crime-ridden corrupt shitholes like Colombia high up on the list is somewhat of a rude shock.
Number two is Italy?
I think now’s the time to get down with my desire to study the late Roman republic—on the scene, y’know, as it were.
But, but… USA! USA! USA! Freedom Fries for everybody!
Comment #7: libdevil on 09/13 at 08:09 PM
Yeah I can eat those forever and not worry about cholesterol because my health insurance pays for Lipitor and my quadruple bypass and my stomach staple and insulin and….what do you mean my pre-existing obesity means my claim has been denied? wha, wha, wha, whaaaaaa
Yes, it was a bit of a shock to see Columbia and Oman ahead of us. The UAE was no suprise, that country bleeds money, but Oman?
We all know Cuba does about as well as the US at a fraction of the cost, but I think most of the great health of the Cubans can be attributed to the policies of bio-regionalism and intensive mostly-organic farming they were forced into after the collapse of the Soviet Union. No more more oil, no more fertilizer, no more money for their sugar cane. They had to go intensive organic or let their cities starve.
Does anyone know a good link where I can test my hypothesis that Cubans of the 1970s were less healthy. CIA World Factbook, one of my favorite resources, doesn’t provide data from that era.
You might want to put your hypothesis in the crapper: Cuba can’t feed itself.
To elaborate: the country depends on various under-the-table dealings the population engages in and hard currency to officially buy the additional food it needs. This has created a vicious circle: it needs the cash crops in order to sell to buy food, which means more farmland and work has to be devoted to that, which reduces the arable land available for food crops.
The other thing you might want to consider: in a country with a long growing season forced by circumstances to rely heavily on “organic” farming, it can’t produce enough food for itself without eliminating a necessary part of its economic foundation, or turning more land (wild land) into farms. That doesn’t say much about the caapcity for “organic farming” to meet a population’s food requirements.
I was surprised to see that Denmark doesn’t rank that much higher than we do, but the real problem isn’t that we rank 37th, it’s the fact that we spend more than any other country, and we’re still 37th.
I’m living in country #32 at the moment and I will take the commie socialist health care here over #37’s any day. I’ve gotten great care in a timely fashion and haven’t had to pay one red cent above my initial insurance premium. I haven’t had to make any specialist appointments, which do take longer, I think, but the wait to see my local GP for a checkup was one day. One whole day. And the receptionist apologized that she couldn’t fit me in sooner.
Insurance plan still doesn’t pay for birth control, though.
No, we are #1 - that #37 bullhockey ... that’s world government evile WHO eugenicist propaganda!
Ms Kate - I’ve actually cited OECD statistics and had a wingnut saying “I don’t need to listen to that socialist shit”. You have people in your country who think that an information clearing house for the rich countries is “socialist”.
@KeithM
regardless of whether or not Cuba produces all its own food, it is really good about urban organic farming in particular.
As to whether or not organic farming can meet a population’s needs, it obviously depends on how densely populated an area is. For much of history, organic farming did meet everyone’s needs because there wasn’t anything else. There is also a population density at which no farming methods can feed the population. Generally speaking, folks advocating organic food development realize that it produces fewer calories/acre, but that isn’t what they’re optimizing on.
I hope his spelling of “Isreal” was on purpose, because I have seen that spelling frequently on the interwebs.