A new study published in JAMA compares the health of middle-aged Americans and Brits and shows that, even though we shell out more than twice as much per capita for medical care, Americans are far less healthy.

.

Does this help make the case for universal health care? Yes, but if that's all we get out of it (and that's a lot), I think we'll be missing possibly the most important conclusion to be drawn.

.

In the Associated Press version of the story, an expert is quoted as saying that if you look at all the quantifiable health factors that separate Brits and Americans, none of them either alone or together are likely to account for the differences in outcomes. The one factor that might, however, is harder to measure: stress.

.

If that's the case, it would mesh nicely with other studies that show Americans, who used to be among the tallest people in the developed world, are now the shortest. There was a good piece on this in The New Yorker a few months back. Contrary to what you'd think, genetics have little to do with height across large populations. The key factors are nutrition and stress at the three key growth periods early in life.

Thus, Dutchmen are now the tallest people in the world, with an average male height of 6-foot-1, followed closely by Scandinavians at a fraction over 6 feet and Germans at a bit under 6 feet. American men average 5-foot-9 1/2, where we've been stuck for more than a century. American women average out at 5-foot-4. Of course, what we lack in stature we make up in girth, but that's another matter.

.

Stress, some might argue, is part of the essence of the American experience. I guess I can see that, but I can't agree that it's somehow desirable or unalterable. In any event, there ought to be some point or some positive outcome to justify the burden of the added stress. If the pre-eminent result is that we're less healthy, less productive and more inclined to invade the odd nation on flimsy pretexts, it's hardly reason to wave the flag.