Back in the old days of discussion about healthcare reform, leaders of the American Medical Association used to warn about a government takeover of medicine by sarcastically describing such a system as combining the “efficiency of the US Postal Service (USPS) with the compassion of the Internal Revenue Service.” Such rhetoric was received with loud guffaws by appreciative antigovernment audiences.

Fear-mongering such as that, combined with hefty lobbying, helped prevent significant American healthcare reform for the entire 20th century, except for Medicare and Medicaid. Indeed, that metaphor remains in wide use among certain political groups.

So, I decided to take the 11-factor grid that I have used for comparing healthcare systems since 1993 and apply it to the current US healthcare (USHC) system and the USPS. A perfect score for each item is 9; a perfect total would be 99.

The US Healthcare System vs The US Postal Service