Politicians love sweeping slogans and generalizations (most often, being quite effective): "Canadian health Care, Even With Queues, Bests Us", was a new Bloomberg.com report; infant mortality was cited to be 34% higher in the Us. An Oct. 2008 narrative from the town for Disease operate settled the Us at 29th in infant mortality, tied with Slovakia and trailing Hungary and Cuba, (A new comment magazine is entitled "We're whole Two?" by Thomas Hazlett). Are such statements - seemingly statistical - believable and true? Probable reaction by the median American is "How can that be?", but then comes a pervasive thought, "But if that's what the data shows -!"
Americans are proud of our country's achievements in all fields, especially in technology and medicine, all aspects of them, and a comparative statement that faults the Us re infant mortality evokes uncut interest and is particularly troublesome - everyone loves infants, so helpless and endearing. Thus, infant mortality behind third-world countries - what are the apples-to-apples facts? The Us, with supposedly top curative requirements, with all births taking place in modern, antiseptic hospitals, germ-free, with trained nurses and doctors and medicines and all types of tool - lagging third-world countries with their mid-wives, babies born under all conditions, indeed not to the standards of the Us! How can that be true?
Health Care Reforms
Denigrating America data are seized upon by health-care-reform advocates - example, comparing Canada, with its mandatory communal health insurance, to the Us with its primarily secret insurance: the Us has 6.9 deaths per 1000 births whereas Canada has only 5.3, almost a fourth less. However, in examining the details, explanation and enlightenment ensues: America has three times the proportion of teen-age mothers, resulting in more premature low-birth-weight babies - juvenile pregnancies, drug abuse, drinking and smoking - are culture factors that cause teen-age pregnancies. Of importance is the hard fact that in each age class of birth-mothers, the Us has equal or best infant survival statistics.
Comparisons made between Cuba (5.8 deaths per 1000) and the Us (6.9 deaths per 1000 - 19% higher) can be similarly challenged: Author Hazlett quotes: "Michael Moore's film 'Sicko' revels in rankings that place Cuba ahead of America in the infant-mortality race." However, a key factor is the criterion of what constitutes infant "death": in Cuba there is a far higher mortality of the birthing mothers themselves, thus infant death is eliminated from the mortality total. Interestingly, for Cubans living in the Us (an "apple to apple" comparison), the rate is only 4.2 deaths per thousand, or infant mortality is 28% lower in the Us than in Cuba.
Noteworthy also, is the fact that that in the Us the health-care law makes Herculean attempts to save low-birth-weight and premature babies, even operations within the womb being routinely performed in the Us. All such situations are deemed miscarriages in other cultures and countries, thus not tabulated as infant mortality.
Politics and spurious correlations aside (and notwithstanding the uncut desire and need for beneficial health Care reform), the health care in case,granted by the Us curative law sees, indeed, to be the best in the world.
Us baby Mortality condition - Care Lags 3rd World Countries - Spurious Correlations!
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