Statistics run wild

Socialized or single payer health insurance will not change some health problems that are unique to the United States, says N. Gregory Mankiw in the New York Times.

For some clarity about life expectancy and health care let's look at research before Obamacare became the lightning rod. The murder rate, particularly among young black men, the obesity rate and lifestyle choices, traffic accidents, and our high immigration rates that include people with poor health, might indicate social patterns that need addressing, but they are not functions of the health care system.

Unfortunately, this bit of advice on health insurance was ignored. “Any reform should carefully focus on this group to avoid disrupting the vast majority for whom the system is working. We do not nationalize an industry simply because a small percentage of the work force is unemployed. Similarly, we should be wary of sweeping reforms of our health system if they are motivated by the fact that a small percentage of the population is uninsured.”

http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/2009/06/health-care-becker.html

"A study published in Lancet Oncology in 2007 calculates cancer survival rates for both men and women in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union as a whole. The study claims that the most important determinants of cancer survival are early diagnosis, early treatment, and access to the best drugs, and that the United States does very well on all three criteria. Early diagnosis helps survival, but it may also distort the comparisons of five or even ten-year survival rates. In any case, the calculated five-year survival rates are much better in the US: they are about 65% for both men and women, while they are much lower in the other countries, especially for men. These apparent advantages in cancer survival rates are large enough to be worth a lot to persons having access to the American health system. Several measures of the quality of life also favor the US. For example, hip and knee replacements, and cataract surgery, are far more readily available in the US than in Europe. The cancer survival and quality of life advantages enjoyed by US residents indicates that Americans get something for the large amount they spend on health care, but they do not indicate that the bang for the health buck is greater in the US, or even that the US health delivery system is reasonably efficient."