upporting Actions with Data It is far too easy to sling opinions around based on little besides, well, opinion. With something as important as healthcare, that is not good enough. Yet, it is difficult to obtain an unbiased view of the data behind the complex parts that make up the U.S. healthcare system, and often, even more difficult to understand it. Additionally, since there really is no way to benchmark the entire system, it seems reasonable to benchmark by comparison to other like countries. The reading for this week, The Current State of U.S. Health Care does just that. The best things about this article are that the data is created by actuaries. In case you are not familiar with these unsung heroes, actuaries live by the rules of mathematics and statistics. They calculate costs and risks. And they take no prisoners. The data supports the calculation, or it doesn't. They are not swayed by ideology or politics. If you live and breathe numbers, this is one of the highest-paid bachelor's degree professions available. Check it out. This article contains ten charts (Figures 1-10) that cover multiple aspects of healthcare. Each of these charts allows you to hover over the