I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

covertanjou

Smarties!  Or a Coffee Crisp?  Maybe a Caramilk? mmmmmm

bluedahlia

yumyum!  Have you ever tasted the Laura Secord icecream?

IronJawedBCAngel

Never tried the fava beans, may have to do so.  I am trying to get more of my protein source through the legumes.  Not ready to go meatless, but I trying to cut the amount I eat.  I love Kris Carr's Crazy Sexy Life site for inspiration and recipes.  Always love the food discussions here, they are like little respites from the bad ju-ju that sometimes flies around.

The only question I was not sure of was the poverty rate.  We have had one of the worst fetal death rates for decades, yet continue to fight against the use of mid-wives that so many of the countries with better ratings utilize.  Doctors here are so afraid of lawsuits that they interfere with nature too much with constant tests and procedures that are counterproductive to a positive outcome.  The worst position to labor in is on your back, but that is what almost every hospital does immediately now by hooking women up to fetal monitors which require the patient to be flat on their backs.  The c-section rate here is out of control.

The US pays almost double the amount of the GDP towards health care than other industrialized nations that have universal health care.  What so many against health care reform refuse to acknowledge is that we can not afford to continue as we have, our nation will go bankrupt otherwise. It would be fiscally irresponsible to not implement change in our system.

konakat

Yes! -- and at Laura's they put a chocolate on top of your cone!

Coffee Crisp is a nice light snack!  My fav is Crispy Crunch.

Marple

Konakat.......you've tasted the best maple syrup and it didn't come from Quebec.

Not I'm going back to counting......one Mississippi, two Mississippi...........

konakat

Whenever someone mentions fava beans I think of Hannibal Lecter.

bluedahlia

Me too!  HAHAHA!!!!

konakat

OMG -- You're right Sharon!!!!  I do have an exclusive supply through an Ontario maple syrup artist.  It's the bwain tumahs.  And chemo brain.  And decadron.  And cookie overdose.  Buuuuurp. 

IronJawedBCAngel

Crunchie bars.  I would do anything just for one!  Our World Market store closed so I no longer can get them here.  Keep hoping for a visit from my son as he can get them in Louisville.

As a former Vermonter, the Vermont maple syrup rocks, especially the syrup you make from the sap from your own trees. Of course, I have only had the fancy grade of Quebec syrup, and I don't like that, so maybe not a fair comparison.

I never watched the Hannibal Lecter movies.

bluedahlia

Speaking of chocolate, has anyone ever had President's Choice, Molten Cakes?  Now that's decadent!

konakat

Yes!  Heated up with vanilla ice cream on the side.

IronJawedBCAngel

I have been wanting to try those, but have not given into the temptation.  I am afraid I would become an addict.

bluedahlia

Warming some up in the oven.  I think I have french vanilla ice cream in the freezer. 

Starting Saturday I gotta start watching what I eat.  Already gained 12 lbs. since my surgery.  I was 114 lbs. at 5'5".

molly52

I wrote a long treatise that I will probably leave on my computer.  But I am drinking.  Bailey's!! Left over from Christmas and needs (actually it is crying) to be drunken.

konakat

Why not use my rationale.  It's made from a cocoa bean -- veggie.  Nuking them kills all the calories.  Ice cream -- calcium.  It's for your own good to eat them!!

Edit to add:  Drizzle with Bailey's.   

molly52

Works for me!

bluedahlia

Yup we can rationalize anything....EH?

annettek

sitting here reading whil emunching on extreme dill potato chips and an icy bottle of diet coke with lime...ahhh I can feel all those preservatives rushing through my body...but darn, sure tastes gooD!

pip57

I simply can't read anymore about food.  We just came back from taking a couple of employees out for dinner. Sushi.  I am ready to explode!! 

konakat

Lime-flavoured doritos served with margaritas.  In the summer, on the deck.  Something to look forward to.

Enjoyful

Party at konakat's house!!  We can plan Chelsea's coronation!  ;-)

Oooh, I had a pecan waffle today at Waffle Haus.  Extraordinaire!

AnneW

After dessert, will some spell out for me what exactly constitutes "the best heatlh care system"  (or is it, "the best health care"?) in the world? What are the criteria for this designation? And where do other major countries fit in?

I really am curious, but I'll give people time to finish their chocolate (or return from their favorite hiding places.)

I could probably find the answer in my T.R. Reid book, but he's probably a left-leaning NPR journalist, or something equally as derisive.

Anonymous

KK

You never offend me. 

Enjoyful

Good question, Anne!  It would have to include multiple factors - access, longevity, infant mortality, cost....what else?

konakat

Thank you Erica -- you're sweet to say that.

Kookoo

lewing

AnneW, here's a link to some great work by the Commonwealth Fund, which looked at health care systems across an array of dimensions.  The U.S. came in DFL:

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/News/News-Releases/2010/Jun/US-Ranks-Last-Among-Seven-Countries.aspx

They also have a new survey covering 11 countries that found adults in the U.S. were the *most* likely to forgo care:

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Publications/In-the-Literature/2010/Nov/How-Health-Insurance-Design-Access-Care-Costs.aspx

Like you, I'm wondering what those who say the U.S. has the best health care in the world are basing that claim on.  We certainly have some of the best medical institutions in the world, but that's waaaaaaay different than claiming that our "health care" or "health care system" is the best.

L

BarbaraA

Interesting that Canada was 6 and the US 7.

Bren-2007

I copied this from your link LInda.

On measures of equity, the U.S. ranks last. Among adults with chronic conditions almost half (45%) with below average incomes in the U.S. reported they went without needed care in the past year because of costs, compared with just 4 percent in the Netherlands. Lower-income U.S. adults with chronic conditions were significantly more likely than those in the six other countries surveyed to report not going to the doctor when they're sick, not filling a prescription, or not getting recommended follow-up care because of costs.

ananda8

This is from the World Health Organization report on the world's health systems.  The bold is mine.  

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

"The U.S. health system spends a higher portion of its gross domestic product than any other country but ranks 37 out of 191 countries according to its performance, the report finds. The United Kingdom, which spends just six percent of GDP on health services, ranks 18 th . Several small countries - San Marino, Andorra, Malta and Singapore are rated close behind second- placed Italy.

WHO Director-General Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland says: "The main message from this report is that the health and well- being of people around the world depend critically on the performance of the health systems that serve them. Yet there is wide variation in performance, even among countries with similar levels of income and health expenditure. It is essential for decision- makers to understand the underlying reasons so that system performance, and hence the health of populations, can be improved....

While private health expenses in industrial countries now average only some 25 percent because of universal health coverage (except in the United States, where it is 56%),"

Anonymous

There is quite a discrepancy between the 7 and 11 countries covered by the Commonwealth Fund studies, and the 191 countries surveyed by the WHO.  Aren't Japan, Spain, Portugal, South Korea and on and on counted as industrialized nations?  One way to skew your findings is to exclude any data that might disprove the theory you are trying to prove.

I also noticed that in the WHO study,"Several small countries - San Marino, Andorra, Malta and Singapore are rated close behind second- placed Italy."  Does that mean that maybe it is easier to consistently deliver quality health care to a small area than over half a continent? 

How does the US rank compared to China, and Russia, countries close to our own size that by nature of their form of government would be expected to have government run health care systems?

The WHO study cited was from a decade ago, while the much more tightly focused Commonwealth Fund study came out while the US was in the midst of a debate about which direction to go with health care reform.  Do you think that there might have been a bias or agenda there?  Statistics can be manipulated to support almost any position.  It is all in the presentation.