I know we've got serious national economic problems these days, but health care seems to have been placed on the back burner lately in the latest political conversations. One statistic that really makes me shudder is the fact that the US is ranked 29th in the world for infant mortality. We're tied with Poland and Slovakia. That seems crazy to me, as we're supposed to have such a stellar health care system compared to other countries. Well, we don't, and our babies are dying because of it. The CDC reported last week that for every 1,000 live births, 6.71 babies die.
I'm wondering why exactly this is..... does it have to do with the health of our mothers? Is it due to race and/or economic factors? Is it because of fertility drugs causing more multiple pregnancies and consequently more premature infants? (And why aren't McCain or Obama talking about the fact that we're ranked 29th??)