[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Hopefully, Obamacare just the first step in fixing this -- until we get what everyone deserves: quality cradle-to-grave single-payer health care.

The ACA isn't perfect, but it's a giant first step.

and they do it for almost a $1,000 a year cheaper than the main cluster of nations.

The U.S., while even more starkly different, isn't an "odd one out." It's simply criminal.

turned out they don't allow hospitals to be run for profit. That may have something to do with it.

Good spotting!

Thanks for posting this.

I'll need to use this.

but I think their life expectancy has more to do with their lifestyle and diet rather than their healthcare system. Many of their emergency rooms close on weekends, which can suck if you get injured then.

What's up with Norway? They should be more efficient.

USA is number 1! in costs of course. Because the private sector is efficient like that.

characterize their elderly as useless eaters. They revere the elderly. The elderly here are subjected to constant threats to their medicare and meager social security checks. This alone probably has an impact on health.

Japanese children are expected to care for their parents, grandparents, etc. its a strong family unit. American families don't often have that culture. Some do, but many don't feel they owe anything to their elderly in their own flesh and blood families.

emergency departments. Their emergency clinics are equivalent to U.S. urgent care clinics, which have limited hours, but are for things that aren't immediately life threatening, but may still need immediate care, whereas emergency rooms at hospitals are for, well, emergencies.

I've never been to Japan but read about this in an article about their health system. The author thought it was for cost savings but he may have misunderstood.

I do know that many countries are strict about their emergency rooms being reserved for legit life threatening emergencies and are way less crowded than American ERs.

refer you to an emergency clinic instead and kick you out of the hospital. I never been there either, but have had friends who lived there or have family there. Of course, availability of emergency clinics varies, just like here.

The clinics are just like our urgent care clinics, many with hours outside of business hours, and also being open on weekends, varies by individual clinic, of course.

We suck!

In capitalism we trust.

Otherwise what we are really saying as a country, is that life doesn't matter one bit.