Statistics don't tell the full story on how good the U.S. healt care system is

See Comparing U.S. and Canadian Health Data. Letter to WSJ.

"Elliott Kanbar’s letter of April 24 points out that Canada’s infant mortality and life expectancy rates are superior to ours. Many countries don’t follow the U.N.’s definition of a live birth. In Canada, babies must be at least one pound to be counted as a live birth. Likewise, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, France, Japan and Hong Kong count as miscarriages many births that the U.S. considers as live births. Excluding birth defects, the main causes of infant mortality are prematurity and low birth weight, which are usually due to smoking and teenage pregnancy.

Regarding a male life expectancy of 76.4 years in the U.S. compared with 79.4 in Canada: Perhaps our homicide rate (5.3 per 100,000 versus Canada’s 1.8 per 100,000), our deaths due to drug overdoses, a sedentary lifestyle and obesity should be addressed. These are societal issues, not deficiencies in our health-care system.

I practiced surgery for over four decades and saw many patients from other countries but cannot recall a single American who had traveled to another country for medical care.

Fredric Jarrett, M.D.
Sarasota, Fla."