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US Life Expectancy Falls Further (cnn.com)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday released data that shows life expectancy fell by one-tenth of a year, to 78.6 years (Warning: source paywalled; alternative source), pushed down by the sharpest annual increase in suicide in nearly a decade and a continued rise in deaths from opioid drugs. "Influenza, pneumonia and diabetes also factored into last year's increase," The Wall Street Journal adds. From the report: Economists and public-health experts consider life expectancy to be an important measure of a nation's prosperity. The 2017 data paint a dark picture of health and well-being in the U.S., reflecting the effects of addiction and despair, particularly among young and middle-aged adults, as well as diseases plaguing an aging population and people with lower access to health care. The U.S. has lost three-tenths of a year in life expectancy since 2014, a stunning reversal for a developed nation, and lags far behind other wealthy nations. Life expectancy is 84.1 years in Japan and 83.7 years in Switzerland, first and second in the most-recent ranking by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The U.S. ranks 29th.
White men and women fared the worst, along with black men, all of whom experienced increases in death rates. Death rates rose in particular for adults ages 25 to 44, and suicide rates are highest among people in the nation's most rural areas. On the other hand, deaths declined for black and Hispanic women, and remained the same for Hispanic men. As drug and suicide mortality has risen, deaths from heart disease, the nation's leading killer, went down only slightly, failing to offset the increases in mortality from other causes and prolonging another worrisome trend.
White men and women fared the worst, along with black men, all of whom experienced increases in death rates. Death rates rose in particular for adults ages 25 to 44, and suicide rates are highest among people in the nation's most rural areas. On the other hand, deaths declined for black and Hispanic women, and remained the same for Hispanic men. As drug and suicide mortality has risen, deaths from heart disease, the nation's leading killer, went down only slightly, failing to offset the increases in mortality from other causes and prolonging another worrisome trend.
Preventative healthcare is the key to a long life. Stopping stuff early keeps it from killing you suddenly or having permanent effects. People with poor healthcare (or limited access because of cost) tend to skimp on preventative healthcare, with corresponding effects on life expectancy. Why does the country with the most expensive healthcare on earth have the worst healthcare in the G20? Because dying patients are good for business.
There's lots of cancer cures now, cancer is no longer the absolute death sentence it once was. Heart disease? Just ask Dick Cheney if they can fix it.... yeh they can. You blamed immigrants bringing "untreatable contagious conditions". What disease exactly? "heart disease"?? "Suicide"?
Lots of cures for lots of diseases, but healthcare has been de-funded, and large parts of Obamacare have been undermined, and you cannot afford it because you are old and have existing preconditions.
Lots of cures for lots of diseases, BUT NOT FOR YOU.
Of the two countries with the longest lifespans:
Switzerland has compulsary healthcare insurance, aka Obamacare.
Japan has 70%/30 state/compulsary private insurance.
It's not immigrants that bring the problem, the Republican party is home grown. Fox News is a *domestic* propaganda outfit. I's not immigrants that defunds Obamacare.
According to the article I read, the main cause of the drop is an increase in suicide and drug overdoses among the young. Which means fewer people pumping money into the system, without much corresponding drop in the people drawing out of the system. So I'd expect the opposite results...
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
Legalizing isn't washing your hands of it, it's merely the start of being able to truly help.
Keeping such drugs illegal is washing our hands and then using our clean hands to dig a large hole into which we place our heads so we cannot hear the screams of the damned.
If we tried what Portugal did 14 years ago, maybe we'd have similar success...
Don't forget we could still go after dealers of really dangerous stuff, it would juts make small quantities illegal.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
No matter how good your doctor is, if you cannot afford him he could be offering eternal life and you'll still croak from a preventable disease because you just can't afford it.
And with more and more people not being able to... well, what do you expect?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.