U.S. health care system is broken

Life expectancy in the UK is 81 and rising. In the United States, it’s 78 and starting to decline.

This year, the U.S. will spend nearly $10,000 per person on health care. The UK will spend less than half that. In addition, the British have more doctors, nurses and hospital beds per capita.

The U.S. spends nearly 2 1/2 times what other industrialized nations spend on health care, and we rank 31st in terms of life expectancy.

The flu epidemic is causing dislocations all over the world, including in the UK. Procedures are being delayed. Typically, 10,000 to 50,000 people die from the flu in the U.S. each year. This year there could be many more. As of Feb. 9, there were 254 reported flu deaths in the UK. People are surviving the flu in the UK because medical treatment is affordable. People are dying in droves here because it’s not.