As I said before I have zero first-hand experience with health care in Colombia. I do know that it is not all that rare for people who need expensive dental work to have it done outside of the US. There are dentists in Canada, Mexico, Colombia and other Latin countries who have plenty of training and experience and do the same work as American dentists for MUCH less than American dentists. I'm planning to have some such work done and I will be interviewing a couple of Colombian dentists in Bogota to gauge their experience and skill.

My mom, who admittedly never took care of her health, suffered tremendously and eventually died under the hands of prescription and surgery oriented MDs here. I almost never go to western MDs and I appreciate that Colombian health insurance provides more choices than our system does for subsidized health care, e.g. my fiance pays next to nothing to see a naturopathic doctor and she's had good results with a couple of them. This was a strong draw to my fiance - she and I are very compatible in our philosophies towards health and healing.

In 2000 the World Health Organization did a study of health systems in 191 member states. You can read the summary here:

http://www.who.int/whr/2000/en/press_release.htm

The US ranked 37th. Colombia ranked 22nd. You can certainly read the report and argue its validity. You can certainly find documentation supporting the US health system. Fine. Then provide other information, other experience, that supports your belief.

I'm going to see if I can find documentation of studies comparing the health of US residents vs. those of Colombia or other Latin countries. It's hard to deny that Americans are getting fatter, are suffering more from diabetes and heart disease and cancer than we were even 50 years ago. I think the American diet of refined sugars and processed foods is largely responsible for that. I'm interested to know if, in general, Colombians are healthier. I'd guess that the poorer Colombians who don't have access to junk food probably ARE healthier than Americans but I don't have any evidence for that belief at this point.

I think there's a real danger in assuming that the US health care system is good and that it leads to good health.

Thoughts? Responses?

Sol

SEE:

http://www-nt.who.int/whosis/statistics/dale/dale.cfm?path=statistics,dale&language=english

This seems to indicate that Americans are healthier than Colombians. I find the descrepancy curious. I suppose it could be explained by the poverty and warfare in Colaombia.

But our (USA's) health care system is a disgrace. It has to change. I would like to say more, but this is not the right forum.

al

Pete

Hoda

I was just having a discussion with a group of friends on how it costs more money in the U.S. to eat a healthy balanced diet than it does to roll down to the nearest fast food joint and pick up something.

You can hit Mickey D's with a 1.99 for a value meal - burger fries and a drink. How healthy and balanced can you eat for that?

If you are poor in the U.S., you are more likely to eat less nutritionally, because you don't have the money to really do otherwise. -Now if we are talking poor AND on welfare/food stamps, that is a little different.

In Colombia, eating fast food is something that people do as a "treat", as it is not as economically feasible for them to partake of it on a regular basis like people do here.

just .02

Tai