I’ll stick with the good old USA thank you. With a little luck, obamacare will die a merciful death which will at least be better than the elderly in the US 20 years from now if it doesn’t.

I remember being in Vancouver sometime shortly before or after the winter Olympics and me and my boss were talking to three bartenders who were all skiers. So naturally, I brought up healthcare. Having nothing to compare it to, they thought it was fine. However, after a few questions, they admitted that out of the three of them, two had waited for treatment for sking injuries. However, the third was better than the other two and at one time was on track to be a top skier, maybe an Olympic athlete. Would have been a long shot, but at least his name was known. When he got injured, someone ‘pulled strings’ and he got treated right away.

Which brings me to your map….

All those non-grey countries have learned to live with what is described below or will soon be force to live with it…

Horror stories about the NHS abound. A 2007 survey of almost 1,000 physicians by Doctors’ Magazine found that two-thirds said they had been told by their local NHS trust not to prescribe certain drugs, and one in five doctors knew patients who had suffered as a result of treatment rationing. The study cited one physician who characterized the NHS as “a lottery.” A new study this year by GP magazine supports that conclusion. Through Freedom of Information Act records, it found that 90 percent of NHS trusts were rationing care.

Rick Dewsbury of the Daily Mail was aghast at the worship of the NHS during Friday’s Olympic ceremony. The columnist noted the sheer hypocrisy of the spectacle, as “the majority of the athletes taking part in the Games will have access to the most expensive cutting-edge private treatment available in the world for even the slightest graze on their bodies.”

... and our health system is so good...

By Kathleen Doheny
WebMD Health News
May 19, 2009 -- Little progress has been made to reduce deadly medical errors in the U.S. in the past decade despite a call to action in 1999, according to a report by Consumers Union.

In 1999, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) issued an alarming report titled "To Err is Human," detailing the toll of preventable medical errors in the U.S; it estimated that up to 98,000 Americans die annually from them.

The report triggered a flurry of activity, including congressional hearings, introduction of legislative bills, and promises of reform. But today, more than 100,000 people a year still die from medical errors, says Lisa McGiffert, campaign director for the Safe Patient Project of Consumers Union and a report co-author. The estimate of 100,000 deaths is drawn from more recent data from the CDC.

"As a country we haven't moved forward as the Institute of Medicine has hoped," McGiffert tells WebMD. ''In 1999, the IOM said we should reduce errors by 50% over five years."

Even the 100,000 figure is an estimate, she says, because there is no centralized system for tracking and monitoring medical harm.