Three American Myths
There's no doubt I've always believed I grew up in the "world's greatest country," the United States of America. That's what I've always been told, and I've had no reason to believe otherwise... until now, possibly. You may have been brought up the same way, never giving the declaration a second thought. But before either one of us goes back to our mind-numbing, "love it or leave it" comfort zones, let's consider these three American myths: The U.S. has the World's Best Health Care A new international survey supported by The Commonwealth Fund finds that one-third of U.S. patients with health problems reported experiencing medical mistakes, medication errors, or inaccurate or delayed lab results—the highest rate of any of the six nations surveyed. While the U.S. performed better than most countries on the hospital transition measure, it had the highest rate of patients reporting coordination problems during doctor visits. One-third (3