Partisanship, Sicko and Oman, in that order.
Everything's partisan (or at least ideological) - even movie reviews. I find it kind of sad that Micheal Moore's Sicko has attracted a single bad review, and said review comes from... the New York Post.
Oh, and at the other side of the scatterplot, the very best review for Sicko comes from the San Fransisco Chronicle. The New Yorker reviewer is the only one to weaken the correlation a bit (unless you count the Washington Post as liberal).
Also: for those who love lovely simple descriptive stats, via Brian Beutler, here are the World Heath Organization international rankings. Here's a Salon piece on the controversy surrounding those rankings. If you're wondering, like I was, about how Oman - which spent $334 on health care per capita at the time of the study - finished 8th overall, it seems to be because of their rather amazing improvement since 1970 (life expectancy at birth has increased by 25 years since then) and efficient use of resources. This might be because Oman's rich leave the country for specialized treatment or major interventions, allowing the remaining $334 to stretch further across the less fortunate population.
Oh, and at the other side of the scatterplot, the very best review for Sicko comes from the San Fransisco Chronicle. The New Yorker reviewer is the only one to weaken the correlation a bit (unless you count the Washington Post as liberal).
Also: for those who love lovely simple descriptive stats, via Brian Beutler, here are the World Heath Organization international rankings. Here's a Salon piece on the controversy surrounding those rankings. If you're wondering, like I was, about how Oman - which spent $334 on health care per capita at the time of the study - finished 8th overall, it seems to be because of their rather amazing improvement since 1970 (life expectancy at birth has increased by 25 years since then) and efficient use of resources. This might be because Oman's rich leave the country for specialized treatment or major interventions, allowing the remaining $334 to stretch further across the less fortunate population.
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