Brits healthier than Americans

[Ravenstorm]

Here you go Stray. This one's for you.

According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Brits are healthier yhan Americans (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/05/0503_060503_healthier.html). This despite twice being spent on healthcare per person.

[Sean of the Thread]

I blame it on Wal-Mart

If not Wal-Mart blame it on Bush.

[Kuyuk]

Our healthcare sucks, theirs is probably better.



K.

[Apathy]

Blame it on all the processed food shit we eat.

You are what you eat.

[Satira]

I blame it on high fructose corn syrup and crappily bleached flour, myself.

[GSLeloo]

There's a country in the world that isn't healthier than we are? I second the high fructose corn syrup, it's in EVERYTHING.

[Hulkein]

Our healthcare sucks, theirs is probably better.



K.

I think it has to do more with 66% of America being overweight as opposed to having inferior healthcare.

[Shari]

How about the fact that a VAST majority get from place to place via walking or train? Even when taking the train, ya still have to get to it somehow.

My brother and his girlfriend are studying abroad in London right now (lucky bastards). So far my brother has lost 17lbs, and I haven't asked what Rachel lost, but they both look FANTASTIC. That's because they told us they walk virtually everywhere, and take the train for long trips when they go country-hopping.

So yeah, I could see why they're healthier.

[Back]

I suspect it is the high alcohol, fish, sex and drug consumption.

Sex, drugs, Cod and rock'n'roll!

[Stanley Burrell]

Their healthcare system is better.

These days, even Italy has a better healthcare system/space program than the United States.

[StrayRogue]

Yes, I blame it on American's generally having shitty diets and being overwight over the actual healthcare.

The NHS truly blows. And yet, while a part of me does detest the "pay for treatment and get flash healed instantly" American style that is slowly taking over in England, I do see the benefits. You do get what you pay for. Of course I'm liking this more since I got a job. Before then free healthcare was the only valid option, regardless of how slow and inefficient it was.

And yeah, Cod rocks.

[Miss X]

For the record, as a nurse I don't do anything special for those who pay for their health care. In fact, I'm likely to make less of an effort with those people.

When was the last time you went into A&E and came out with £500 bill? Never. You don't even pay for your drugs. Sure, the NHS is in debt but that is largely due to the new payment-for-results contract for GP's that the financial department hugely misjudged.

As for the UK being healthier than the US, it's likely coincidence. Our lifestyle is generally no different to yours. We really don't walk anywhere or eat anything significantly better. We just have access to health care for 100% of the population, at no charge. Perhaps because of that, our distribution of public health information and screening services are better?

[Asha]

In 20 years the huge percentage caught in the binge drinking culture won't be so healthy. In fact, it's gonna be a problem.
Wether it's fast food, drugs or alchohol, we're all as bad as eachother.

[Skirmisher]

I'd guess it's no great mystery and a little of each that has been mentioned.

Slightly to much better diet.

Less sedentary lifestyle.

And access to health care by all no matter the level of income.

[Sean of the Thread]

>>And access to health care by all no matter the level of income.<<

Obviously the biggest factor and spot on.

[Wezas]

Are there calories in flouride?

[El Burro]

Wezas is hilarious!

[Hulkein]

Our lifestyle is generally no different to yours. We really don't walk anywhere or eat anything significantly better. We just have access to health care for 100% of the population, at no charge. Perhaps because of that, our distribution of public health information and screening services are better?

Healthcare systems don't make people walk more and/or eat less shitty food.

The lifestyles are a lot different. A far greater percentage of British citizens live in a city (mainly London) as opposed to subarbs/country than in the U.S. We drive a hell of a lot more on average per person, and the average drive time to work per person is still rising in America.

[DeV]

I'm thinking access to healthcare by all is at least one very dominant factor. Waiting for an illness to reach chronic status before seeking emergency room care is just one example of this. It is especially true for low income areas where poor have little to no health insurance. They are less healthy than those that have immediate and quality health care access obviously.

[Hulkein]

You can go to a doctor 300 times a year, if you're morbidly obese, it will do nothing.

66% of America is overweight.... It's not from poor healthcare. Come on.

[Latrinsorm]

So yeah, I could see why they're healthier.I dunno. When I was over there it wasn't so much that I was exercising more, it was that the food was either miserably disgusting (I used to think a meal tasting like cardboard was just a figure of speech) or miserably expensive. I lost like 20 pounds, but I don't think anyone could claim that made me healthier.

And I think it's important to note who exactly they studied before we make proclamations about national health rates. "Marmot's team compared whites aged 55 to 64."

Finally: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/12/1227_041227_deep_fried_mars_bars.html

Scotland is AWESOME!!

[Skirmisher]

Hulk, while no one, at least that I have seen, has said that the access to health care is the sole factor it must be recognized as at least a sizeable factor.

Now I think everyone agrees that the general US population needs to eat better and exercise more. That is a given.

That being said, the percentage of people in the US with no healthcare grows everyday.

[DeV]

You can go to a doctor 300 times a year, if you're morbidly obese, it will do nothing.

66% of America is overweight.... It's not from poor healthcare. Come on.I'm thinking access to healthcare by all is at least one very dominant factor.

[CrystalTears]

USA also has 4x the population of England, so you would have to take the healthiest 60 million of Americans and compare them to England instead. The test is askew! :D

[HarmNone]

That's the freaking problem, CT! There are so damned many of us we make each other sick! :regan:

[Asha]

it was that the food was either miserably disgusting...

But but, fish + chips!!
And all the other miraculous treats you can deep fry in lard.

[ElanthianSiren]

Actually, that wouldn't skew the results as long as people were picked in a completely random fashion.

In the US, many healthcare programs are set up such that preventative care is not supported. Things like chiropractic visits are only allotted two times a month for example (using a family member's healthcare here), while ER visits are always covered. Socialized plans, in general, have much better preventative care measures AND insist that you do things like get pap exams/prostate exams on a regular basis. In both cervical and prostate cancer, early detection is always cited as a strong survival/recovery factor. In the US, if you don't have adequate healthcare, you can pretty much count on not having the cancer detected as early. It's primarily the healthcare in my opinon, though the diet and lack of exercise doesn't help matters.

-M

[Alfster]

Wezas beat me to the punchline...

Our healthcare may suck, but at least our teeth are straight!

[Stanley Burrell]

This one dude in my lab who worked at a nearby Bronx hospital had an official job title of, "Needing immediate medical assistance turner-awayer because you do not have the finance to stop the bleeding." Maybe a bit more eloquent.

He constantly harped upon how it was the "real world" and gave an example as to how he had turned away a pregnant woman who was having labor complications needed a caesarian section when the computer showed her to be lacking $10.00 in the financial department. The woman and her unborn child died. The hospital held no responsibilities for this event as well as other waiting room deaths due to lack of funds.

My lab partner with a degree in economics quit his almost 6-digit income job shortly afterwards. The guy still explains how this situation is just an example of the real world. I think by the real world, he means the corporate healthcare system of the United States.

Stanley Burrell.

[Asha]

Our healthcare may suck, but at least our teeth are straight!

All the better to eat pies with.

[Back]

But but, fish + chips!!
And all the other miraculous treats you can deep fry in lard.

Blackpool donuts. MMMMMMM!!!!

Not into the Full Monty deep fried dogs though.

[Sean of the Thread]

I doubt Wezas or Peams teeth are straight if they got any left.. they are from Virginia.

[Back]

Straight teeth jokes are so Austin Powers 1997.

[Sean of the Thread]

Homosexual jokes are so Backlash.

[StrayRogue]

I agree with Hulkein on most points. I walk everywhere. I don't need a car as the city centre is well within my reach, plus trams, buses etc are always in cheap abundance. Secondly eating out is in general more expensive here than in America. So we do it alot less.

As for the NHS, let me relate an experience that recently "opened my eyes".

About a two years ago I got a cap put in one of my back teeth by an NHS dentist. It wasn't done properly and fell out in March of last year. This caused an infection to grow, unbeknownst to me. A couple months later I began to get intense pain in my tooth. As I live in the North West, I am about 1 million on the waiting list for a dentist. So I go to the NHS dental emergency room. They see me (for a cost), and it turns out the infection has grown into an abscess.

They give me some injections to numb the gum so they can remove it. It doesn't work as the infection is so deep. So they tell me to take some antibiotics and come back next week. They still charge me for the op, even if it was botched.

I return a week later, half baked on these shitty pills which made no difference; they can't take it out.

And so begins my plight. I get put on the consultants waiting list, which was two months wait, all the while being in relatively intense pain every day. I finally get my date though the doctor is about a two hour train journey away. But I go. The meeting lasts 10 minutes. She tells me due to my infection that numbing me up isn't going to work. Being put to sleep is the only option. Great, I say, but when?

"Oh about a year from now."

I'm still waiting, though my op date (which I still don't know) will be in July sometime hopefully.

So hurrah for the NHS. Had I gone private the tooth would have been sorted before it got so fucked up. They even had the gall to charge me &#163;50 for the consultation. Twats.

[Asha]

I've only had experiences which make me applaud the NHS. Apart from them giving me pills which I'm allergic to, 4/5 times.
When I had to be knocked out at the dentists it was sorted within a month.

[Apathy]

Twats.

There's the real reason Brits are healthier. They have much better insults, allowing them to vent off steam more effectively which results in lower stress levels.

I love that word.

[AnticorRifling]

Half of everything they eat gets stuck in the gaps of their collective grills. Thus they intake less food so they are not as fat and healthier. It's right in front of your faces people!

[Asha]

Our accents make the ladies wet.

[Makkah]

I hear brushing your teeth helps, Stray.

[Leetahkin]

Could it be that Americans socialize much more while eating than Brits, so we may feel the need to eat while socializing?

I ate a lot less while in London, and did a fair amount of walking. The buses were extremely easy to navigate though, so I didn't do as much walking as I expected. I think it could be, like someone else said, their lifestyle.

The people in London were so beautiful and smartly dressed. I rarely saw an overweight person there. Maybe that's something in-grained into them and their lifestyle.

:heart: Brits