" U.S. ranked near and at the bottom in almost every heath indicator. That stunned us."

[Indydem]

120. I guess it must be easy.

Read the report and actually think about it.

Leave your biases at the door and read it.

I suppose it would be easy to read my posts and see only defense of corporations, or whatever you see. You THINK I am in opposition to whatever you believe in, so it's easier to paint me with a broad brush and dismiss me. Fine, whatever.

This goes back to what I have said for yours; single payer is great - I support it. But it isn't going to do a damn thing in this country until we start changing the culture - the foremost of which is to build of the belief of our youth in the power and importance of the individual.

I will apportion the responsibility for our national health issues to many; greed and corporations getting their fair share.

However, people and the culture we have allowed to take root in this country still bear a majority of the blame.

Greed has nothing to do with high infant mortality rates. Pre-natal care is covered free of charge in every state insurance program for the poor nationwide. We have a plethora of programs and NFP organizations that will provide that care - if it is SOUGHT. You can't make a woman take care of her unborn child. You can't get them to stop smoking, using drugs, or ignoring the fact they are pregnant. You can blame greed for a lot of things in our society, but people refusing to care for themselves or their unborn children isn't one of them.

Low life expectancy is a result of a lot of things. Smoking, poor health habits, inner city violence, and cultural issues are all contributors. If you want to say that tobacco companies and food companies, in their greed have tricked people into using their products, then I can go with that. But to act like our culture has nothing to do with that? That is a bridge too far.

High teen pregnancy rate? That is associated with greed? If you want to make the argument that the marketing of sex is a contributor, fine. But men and women alike have a responsibility to be safe. While abstinence only education may be retarded, you act as if people live in a bubble where the only information they receive is in school. There is this thing called the internet. If you value yourself and your life, you will teach yourself how to be safe and take responsibility for your own future.

You can argue that better insurance (or universal health care, as I advocate) will somehow solve these problems. That is a fallacy. We need to be working on the American culture. We need to be teaching people that they have a fundamental responsibility to act responsibly, and protect themselves and their neighbors (and friends). But first we must value ourselves and recognize the value of the individual.

If you made single-payer the law of the land tomorrow. Not a single one of the staggering statistics in this report would change. People have to change.