Conventional wisdom in the United States holds that our health care system, while costly, achieves some of the best outcomes in the world. A report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), however, conclusively refutes these assumptions. In a survey of current and historical health data for 17 other high-income democracies, the IOM found that the United States ranked dead last in life expectancy among males and second-to-last among females, despite spending substantially more per person …