I never thought I would do this. Blog that is. With the election coming up, and health-care being a significant issue, I thought it would be helpful to share a few things. If you're looking for fun, look elsewhere. Being sick is serious business. Unfortunately, many times it's big business as well.

(1) 2004 data; Health-care

                 cost/%GDP     cost/per capita   doc visits/per capita     life expectancy

     U.S.           15.3%            $6,102                    3.9                              77.5    

     Canada       9.9%            $3,165                    6.1                              79.9

     U. K.            8.1%            $2,508                    5.3                              78.5

     Japan          8.0%            $2,249                  13.8                              82.1

     Mexico         6.5%              $622                     2.5                              75.2

Several things appear to be clear, (1)money can't buy me love, and it can't buy me time. (2)The Japanese go to the doctor a lot (bad sushi), about 3 times more often than Americans, yet they pay less than half for it, per capita. (3) Our hombres down south are getting by fairly well, and real cheap. 

U.S. military spending, (which everyone in the States seems to be so concerned about) runs fairly consistently around 5% of GDP, or 1/3rd of Health-care costs. 

So, what's wrong with this picture? Stay tuned for Part 2, or "What Michael Moore isn't telling you."