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Americans Are Seriously Sick

jd writes "A study by US and British researchers on frequency of illnesses shows that even when you compare like groups in the US and the UK, people in the US are considerably sicker than their counterparts in the UK. This is after factors such as age, race, income, education and gender were taken into consideration. The most startling conclusion was that although the richest Americans were better off than the poorest Americans, they did no better (health-wise) than the poorest of the English. Previous studies of the entire population had shown similar results, with America placing around 25th amongst industrialized countries on chronic disease prevention, but it had been assumed that minorities and economics were skewing the results. This study suggests that maybe that isn't the case."

27 of 1,519 comments (clear)

  1. Pies by Loquis · · Score: 5, Funny

    So who ate all the pies?

  2. Duuuuuuuuh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Socialism == Medical

    US != Socialism

    HENCE

    Medical != US

    Sheesh.. when we'll we learn?

    1. Re:Duuuuuuuuh by Freaky+Spook · · Score: 2, Funny
      Sheesh.. when we'll we learn?

      When a guy who's sick of the flue hijacks a plane and flies it into a building.

  3. We may be sick by RLiegh · · Score: 3, Funny

    But at least we're not revolting!

  4. Re:This is a trash study by Bromskloss · · Score: 2, Funny
    However, I'd like to see some links backing up your assertion that you have to wait years for life-threatening procedures.
    That, my friend, is a _feature_, not a bug.
    --
    Swedish plasma phys. PhD student; MSc EE; knows maths, programming, electronics; finance interest; seeks opportunities
  5. "Americans Are Seriously Sick" by ben0207 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Whereas Canadians are "x-treme", and the French are "to the max"

    --
    cmd-q.co.uk - some sort of stupid fucking internet bullshit
  6. Re: TypoMan strikes! by Grab · · Score: 4, Funny

    Normally I'm not a spelling Nazi, but "pubic healthcare" is too good to pass up... ;-)

    Grab.

    PS. Having said that, you've written "naive" with a diacritic, which I'd never bother with, so bonus points there.

  7. Re:Answer is easy. by CRCulver · · Score: 3, Funny

    The problem isn't really meat, it's cooked meat. The Inuit peoples survived for thousands of years on a diet of pure raw meat, and experienced few health problems until the arrival of Western cooked food, which immediately brought illnesses upon them. Many studies have shown that a diet of raw meat is perfectly healthy and natural for the human body, so your assertion that vegetarianism is the only solution is silly.

    In any event, I myself stick to the continental idea that what good is life without fine food? Meat may bring its problems--though continental rates of heart disease are lower than those in the U.K. and U.S.--but my life is more satisfying with such delicacies as foie gras or salonna that without.

  8. Re: TypoMan strikes! by famebait · · Score: 4, Funny

    It was "pubic heathcare", you insensitive clod.

    --
    sudo ergo sum
  9. Re:Fast food by mattyrobinson69 · · Score: 2, Funny

    To be fair, there are plenty of english meals that dont have chips. eg:

    fish and mushy peas (thats not that bad)
    mushy pea butties (that cant be that bad)
    meat pie butty (thats a bad one)

    there are plenty more, but bacon, eggs and black pudding doesn't really highlight my point.

  10. Mate, get used to it. by YeeHaW_Jelte · · Score: 3, Funny

    Those Texans will always keep fucking up their geography.

    --

    ---
    "The chances of a demonic possession spreading are remote -- relax."
  11. Re:Sweet tooth & work stress by mgblst · · Score: 4, Funny

    Higher blood pressure: higher work stress. I don't think I need expand on this, it's a well known fact that Americans work more and have less holidays/vacations.
     
    From my experience in the UK with working with Americans, I would say that most stress for Americans comes from having to work with other Americans.

  12. YEAH RIGHT!!!! by JollyFinn · · Score: 4, Funny

    But which has less healthcare costs per kg of bodyweight!!!!

    --
    Emacs is good operating system, but it has one flaw: Its text editor could be better.
  13. How sick? by caluml · · Score: 5, Funny

    American employee: Hello Boss, I can't come into work today. I'm seriously sick.
    American employer: Oh, how sick?
    American employee: Well, I'm in bed with my sister.

  14. it's a good thing by tinkerton · · Score: 3, Funny

    this means the weak are effectively being weeded out, which will in the end lead to a stronger, conservative America!

    the sad thing is, I have to state explicitly that I'm being sarcastic here...

  15. Re:Answer is easy. by Saven+Marek · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is not "activist" pictures, it is documentary images I have seen on national TV.

    I propose an addendum to godwin's law. If someone mentions "It's true, I saw it on national TV" then they lose and the debate is over. Oh and everyone gets to laugh at them for weeks.

  16. Spelling/grammar errors by SpaghettiPattern · · Score: 1, Funny
    If you want to correct my spelling/grammar mistakes do it in Finnish please.

    It's:
    • "finish", not "Finnish".
    • "at the finish", not "in Finnish".
    • better to say "at the end" than "at the finish".
    --

    I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
  17. Re:Answer is easy. by twiddlingbits · · Score: 2, Funny

    Americans can travel to Canada, Mexico and the Carribean on our short vacations and many do. The reason we don't travel the rest of the world is two-fold. One is time, and the other is there are so many wonders to see in the USA and so many things to do why go to Europe? We have the World's Best National Parks, great skiing in several places, excellent beaches on two oceans and the Gulf of Mexico, at least three Mountain ranges, cheap (relatively) gas prices, Hollywood, NYC, Boston, etc. as places to go. Many nations in Europe dont have this and they have to visit other countries. Howeever to them that is about as big a deal as someone in the USA visiting another state, and just about as close, and probably less hassles if you take the trains!

  18. Answer is easy: tea plus less working hours by rishistar · · Score: 4, Funny

    Tea has much better health benefits than coffee (and in fact even helped keep illnesses down in grime filled cities in the Industrial Revolution). So Americans drink more coffee to keep them awake so they can work longer hours hence getting more stressed and more ill.

    Betcha don't feel so clever about the Boston Tea Party now!!!

    --
    Professor Karmadillo Songs of Science
  19. Re:Answer is easy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    eat a kilo of steak every day and then complain that they suffer from heartburn

    I promise you, no self-respecting american eats a kilo of steak. Half a pound - that's what we eat. half a pound.

  20. I'm sick alright! by jbrandv · · Score: 2, Funny

    Leave me alone! I'm trying to screw my sister...
    Is that sick enough for you?

  21. The great thing about this discussion by Morinaga · · Score: 3, Funny

    The great thing about this discussion is that there's no stereotyping nor unsubstantiated claims of fact going on here.

  22. Actually, this study draws a false correlation by TallDave · · Score: 3, Funny

    If you're not sick, you wouldn't NEED more health care, and you were, you would. So of course the U.S. spends more: because Americans are more sick! We shouldn't expect that spending money to treat sickness would prevent us from becoming sick in the first place.

    Also, are they being diagnosed the same way? Based on what I hear from Londoners and their disgust with NHS (to the point some of them come here for treatment because NHS refuses to believe they have a chronic disease or puts them on a six-month waiting list), I suspect not.

    But more than anything, I go back to the prevalence of tea drinking. It explains a lot, especially when you take Japan into account.

  23. Re:Answer is easy. by Dausha · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Turns out it was only a ten-minute walk away. And virtually every car I passed on the way honked at me. Why? Because they thought I was a bum - after all, only bums don't have cars, right?"

    No, they weren't honking at you because they thought you were a bum. They honked because they did not recognize you. Because they did not recognize you, they knew you were a _foreign_ visitor. So, they were trying to help you feel more welcome. I would not be surprised if some of them gave you the national one-finger salute as well.

    --
    What those who want activist courts fear is rule by the people.
  24. USA is dying by Dr+Liebe+Merkwurdige · · Score: 3, Funny

    It is official; the WHO now confirms: the USA is dying
    One more crippling bombshell hit the already beleaguered US population when the WHO confirmed that the USA quality of life has dropped yet again, now down to less than a fraction of 1 percent of all servers. Coming close on the heels of a recent UN survey which plainly states that the USA has lost more quality-of-life, this news serves to reinforce what we've known all along. The USA is collapsing in complete disarray, as fittingly exemplified by failing dead last in the recent WHO comprehensive assessment.

    You don't need to be a Kreskin to predict USA's future. The hand writing is on the wall: USA faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for the USA because the USA is dying. Things are looking very bad for the USA. As many of us are already aware, the USA continues to lose quality-of-life. Red ink flows like a river of blood.

    The employer-subsidized health plan is the most endangered of them all, having lost 93% of its corporate members. The sudden and unpleasant departures of long-time employer-subsidy providers Bechtel and Citibank only serve to underscore the point more clearly. There can no longer be any doubt: the employer-subsidized health plan is dying.

    Let's keep to the facts and look at the numbers.

    National association AHIP states that there are 70,000 000 holders of Individual Policies. How many users of Medicaid are there? Let's see. The number of Individual Policies versus Medicaid payouts is roughly in ratio of 5 to 1. Therefore there are about 70, 000 000/5 = 14, 000 000 state health plan users. Other health-plan costs are about half of the volume of Medicaid costs. Therefore there are about 7, 000 000 users of other health plans. A recent article put joint employer/employee health plans at about 80 percent of the USA market. Therefore there are (7000+1400+700)*4 = 36400 Group Policies holders. This is consistent with the total payouts for Group Policies costs.

    Due to the troubles of abysmal sales and so on, many Group Policies providers went out of business and were taken over by the Federal government, who administer another troubled health plan. Now Medicare is also dead, its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.

    All major surveys show that USA has steadily declined in quality-of-life. The USA is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If US healthcare is to survive at all it will be due to custom from foreign elites. The USA continues to decay. Nothing short of a cockeyed miracle could save the USA from its fate at this point in time. For all practical purposes, the USA is dead.

    Fact: USA is dying

  25. Re:Answer is easy. by jackbird · · Score: 2, Funny
    Mmmmm.... I love the smell of developers in the morning....

    Yeah, it's in the late afternoon that it becomes unbearable...

  26. Re:Have to agree there by Unski · · Score: 2, Funny

    I am particularly supportive of people who log on to American websites and start talking like Jolly Old England.
    Then it was a pleasure to make your acquaintance old fellow. I do hope you will drop in for a spot of tea some day - the Queen is likely to be popping-by next week and it would be a capital idea if we could have a real living American join us, see what all the fuss is about so to speak. Toodle-Pip.