In his article at Common Dreams, Oregon doctor Samuel Metz destroys the notion that the United States has the world’s best health care system.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says, “We do start with the notion, however, that we have the best health care in the world.” If McConnell had diabetes, he might pause. American diabetics suffer twice as many foot amputations as diabetics in Europe because they cannot afford care to prevent foot infections from turning deadly.

House Speaker John Boehner says we have “the best health care delivery system in the world.” But there are 35 other countries in which a pregnant woman and her baby have a better chance of surviving the pregnancy. The United States leads the industrialized world in deaths preventable with timely care. There are 15 other nations providing every citizen with lifesaving treatments denied to many unfortunate Americans.