Even Rich Americans Don't Get World-Class Health Care: Study

From HealthDay:

Even the most privileged people in the United States with the best access to health care are sicker and more likely to die than average folks in other developed nations, a new study finds.

People living in the highest-income counties in the United States are, on average, more likely to die from a heart attack or cancer, during childbirth, or to lose an infant than people in 12 other industrialized countries, according to findings published online Dec. 28 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

"We're talking about whites, and we're talking about whites living in the richest parts of the country," said lead researcher Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, chairman of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, in Philadelphia. "We were looking at the best in the United States, and comparing to average in other places. We're not better than other countries."