Presto Agitato: In Extremis and In General

July 10, 2009

In Extremis and In General

Meagan McArdle has to explain the difference between medical care in America and in the rest of the world:

This may be why -- contrary to what Mr. Drum has apparently read -- cancer survival rates in Europe lag those in the US. ... At the highest macro level, life expectancy, Europe generally outperforms us. But it's not clear how much of that is health care, and how much things like our murder rate, and our famously sedentary lifestyles. When you drill down into many diseases, we outperform them. And many argue that we outperform them on hard-to-measure "lifestyle" issues: how fast your torn ACL gets repaired, how quickly (or whether) you get a hip replacement, etc. Such quality of life issues are nearly impossible to measure, though this hasn't stopped many people from trying. But I don't really trust the figures they generate.

Ms. McArdle notices another distinction, although she misses the terminological point: 'Health care' and 'medical care' are not the same thing. 'Medical care' is obvious, but 'health care' includes such things as lifestyle. But whether or not I have that double blue-cheese bacon burger is no reflection of the quality or efficiency of the medical care I receive to make up for my poor behavior. (Erhem. I haven't had one of those in a couple years, but it was yummy!) In America, we sometimes eat more poorly and live more leisurely lifestyles than do Europeans, but that is an individual choice. American medical care is the best in the world, and all things considered is not more expensive than other, less-effective systems. All things considered, I say, because I have seen cost-comparisons between the US and Canada that overlooked significant Canadian expenses.

Posted by Mike at 12:06 in Economics, Politics & Courts | Permalink

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