Where's the Senate Healthcare Bill?

[Portmanteur]

I have no idea if this is true or not, but it would explain the "high" infant mortality rates in the US if it were. Basically, during a conversation on politics, someone said that the reason the US's infant mortality rates are so skewed compared to the rest of the world is because the rest of the world doesn't treat premature babies, so they don't include them in their statistics. But the US will send any under-developed child to the neo-natal unit, sometimes just to be on the safe side. That would make a lot of sense to me, and it would explain why our stats are higher.

I googled it to be sure, and this Wordpress blog post was the number 3 result, after two Wikipedia articles. Not sure which is a more trustworthy source, but even the wikipedia article on Infant Mortality has a section on the problems when comparing two countries' published stats. On one line it mentions a CDC report that seems to confirm this, but the citation links to a WebMD article, yet another bona-fide source of information. Nevertheless, that article does contain some good info like this:

"We don't know why the preterm rate is so much higher than in Europe," MacDorman tells WebMD. "But teens, older mothers, smokers all have higher preterm rates."

It would stand to reason that the US has more "teens, older mothers, and smokers" having birth, but that's just more commentary on how messed up the American Society is. That Web MD article also has a normalized list of infant mortality rates if you take out premature births, which shows that the US isn't that bad, but still double some of the top European countries.

EDIT: I just realized that Kaijyuu's graph has life expectancy on the right side, not infant mortality, so I just spent the last 30 minutes being randomly off topic.

[Pickle Girl Fanboy]

Anyone see the daily show last night?  John Stewart had this guy on, Harry Markopolos, who started mailing the authorities about Bernie Madoff back in 2000, telling them Bernie's buisness was a giant ponzi scheme.

He seems really fucking dorky.

I like him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Markopolos

[Kaijyuu]

That has what to do with this topic, exactly?


Not to say the guy isn't awesome. Anyone who takes down organized crime using *math* is either frickin' awesome or a huge nerd. Or both.

[SentinalBlade]

(assuming the U.S. line continues downward and Mexico's line continues upward)

I dont believe the graph is some sort of flow chart, but just lines(in varying sizes) linking to numbers on the sides of the graph. No necassarily in any particular direction, just to the numbers as it is now.

I haven't had time to read the bill, but the liens im hearing about keeping me on my parents insurance until my later 20s would help me BIG time. The health insurance company tried to drop me THE moment i turned 18(i got a call from them that day) and i was in the ER(great way to spend the b-day i know), i had to fight with them and have them call the doctor to help prove i was really that sick.

now i turned 19(woot, 22cnd, anniversarry of the hospital visit was today =P) and i got another call from them again, requesting a conference with one of their agents. its silly retarded how much fighting i have to do, just to try and get money to be healthy.