Health as a Component of Prosperity

By Larry Kilman

Tuesday, 17 January 2017

The Legatum Institute, a London-based non-profit research organization, has released its 10th annual prosperity index, which measures health, education, economic, and social progress in 149 countries.

Business Insider UK focused on one aspect of that index – health care -- and came up with a list of the 16 countries with the world’s best healthcare systems (nt surprisingly, most of them are in Europe).

The list provides an opportunity to debate the correlation between health care and overall prosperity. Again, to nobody’s surprise, health care – measured by Legatum as consisting of basic mental and physical health, health infrastructure, and the availability of preventative care – goes hand in hand with prosperity.

The United States is notably absent from the list, even after getting its first national health care through the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. As the incoming administration is dedicated to repealing the Act (and perhaps replacing it with an alternative), the release of the index and the focus on health care is timely.

The Legatum Institute uses its research to advocate for policies and practices that move people, communities and nations from poverty to prosperity. In addition to the Prosperity Index, it has a wide range of programs focused on such issues as character and values, cultural transformation, economics and more. Its most recent initiative is a Special Commission on Trade, created after the British vote to leave the European Union to focus on the trade negotiations that will be needed.