Sicko Revisited

[xorbie]

We wouldn't have to "force" people to agree to paying for healthcare if we did a better job brainwashing little kids. pvn, would you support universal healthcare under such circumstances?

[tolbiny]

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A country which has a lower life expectancy rate than another country is a country whose health system is generally worse than the other country.

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A generalization cannot be used to support a specific case. Men are generally taller than women, Bob is a man, Jan is a woman, therefore bob is taller than Jan is not an acceptable conclusion. This report ranks countries against each other, using generalities in such a way is very poor from an objective standpoint.

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Check out again the link about the methodology.

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Just read it (again). There is not one mention of adjusting life expectancy for murder rates, eating habits, immigration patterns or genetic make up of the population.

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And, as you can see, it is one criterion among many

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No, it is not one criterion among many, it is actually used for 2 of the criteria among 6 or 8 depending on how you view the report. Either way 2/8 or 2/6 is not one out of many.

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The difference is not big enough to distort the overall ranking.

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Where is this study? You cannot conclude that factor X is not enough to alter rankings without researching it and attempting to normalize other factors. Thats the whole point of statistical studies, and the whole point of the criticism.

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A system where the rewards of the system are more fairly distributed among the citizens is judged (by most of the world's citizens) to be a better system. If country A "distributes" life expectancy more widely among the citizens, it gets higher marks in this criterion. Country B could get a higher mark in the criterion of overall average life expectancy.


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Considering that there isn't a universal consensus on the word "fair" this is a totally worthless statement. Unless of course you want entire cultures exempt from these studies (Japan leaps to mind).