U.S. life expectancy will soon be on par with Mexico’s and the Czech Republic’s - Sensationalist Headlines

[URL="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/02/21/us-life-expectancy-will-soon-be-on-par-with-mexicos-and-croatias/?utm_term=.ffeb7fbc5c72"]SOUR[/URL]CE [QUOTE]Life expectancy at birth will continue to climb substantially for residents of industrialized nations — but not in the United States, where minimal gains will soon put life spans on par with those in Mexico and the Czech Republic, according to an extensive analysis released Tuesday. South Korean women and Hungarian men are projected to make the largest overall gains (with South Koreans second among males). There is a better-than-even chance that South Korean women will live to an average of 90 years old by 2030, which would be the first time a population will break the 90-year barrier, according to the research published in The Lancet. Not so in the United States. “Notable among poor-performing countries is the USA,” the researchers wrote, “whose life expectancy at birth is already lower than most other high-income countries, and is projected to fall further behind, such that its 2030 life expectancy at birth might be similar to the Czech Republic for men, and Croatia and Mexico for women.” Americans will gain only a couple of years of life expectancy between 2010 and 2030, the study predicted, keeping life spans in the early 80s for women and late 70s for men. The study projects a life expectancy of 83.3 for women in the United States and 79.5 for men in 2030, up from 81.2 for women and 76.5 for men in 2010. The reasons for the United States' lag are well known. It has the highest infant and maternal mortality rates of any of the countries in the study, and the highest obesity rate. It is the only one without universal health insurance coverage and has the “largest share of unmet health-care needs due to financial costs,” the researchers wrote. [U.S. life expectancy declines for the first time since 1993] Tellingly, the United States was the first high-income country to see a halt to the pattern of increasing height in adulthood, a reliable indicator of improving public health, according to Majid Ezzati, a professor of public health at Imperial College London, who led the research team. Some Americans get a “bad start to life in nutrition and education” and suffer “high rates of homicide,” Ezzati said. “And then lack of universal insurance. Some people probably get diagnosed too little and too late. “If you have good insurance and you live on the East Coast and the West Coast, you probably get the best health care in the world,” he added. “It’s not the technical quality of it, which is superb. It's the spread of it.” In many parts of the country, top health care simply isn't available. In December, the U.S. government reported that life expectancy had declined in 2015 for the first time since 1993 as death rates for eight of the 10 leading causes of death, including heart disease, rose. [/QUOTE]

Considering for a brief second that the only major hospital in my state, which is considered a regional trauma center and is the only one in the state with a helicopter as well, has had on average more cases of MRSA in a year than they're allowed to have in a 10 year period to be considered not absolutely fucking garbage by the CDC. I'm not really surprised by this news. Healthcare in this country is a fucking joke anywhere that isn't a major population hub.

Wow, I don't think many, or any western countries has had their life expectancy actually drop the last twenty years

South Korean pension funds will bankrupt.

And yet we [i]still[/i] would rather spend [b]even more[/b] money on the military than make healthcare affordable for every American because "dats socialism". You just can't cure stupidity.

I know Bernie repeats this many times over, but I'm saying it again. The US is the [B][I]only[/I][/B] industrialized nation that [B][I] doesn't[/I][/B] entitle health care to its citizens as a right. His health care plan would've, on average, saved each family nearly $5000+ dollars a year, freeing that money up to be used for other means, creating a much higher velocity of money for the working class. All it would take is tacking an extra $200-$300 onto their taxes. It is about damn time the United States started acting like the god damn powerhouse it's supposed to be, and starts investing in socialized services for health care. Each person in the US pays nearly double or triple what citizens in other countries pay that have a socialized health care system.Furthermore, the rising cost of prescription drugs are preventing families from getting the medication they so desperately need. The US shouldn't be building walls, expanding our "struggling" military, or paying for Trump's extravagant trips to Mar-e-lago. We need to start investing in our own people.

[QUOTE=Llamaguy;51915951]I know Bernie repeats this many times over, but I'm saying it again. The US is the [B][I]only[/I][/B] industrialized nation that [B][I] doesn't[/I][/B] entitle health care to its citizens as a right. His health care plan would've, on average, saved each family nearly $5000+ dollars a year, freeing that money up to be used for other means, creating a much higher velocity of money for the working class. All it would take is tacking an extra $200-$300 onto their taxes. It is about damn time the United States started acting like the god damn powerhouse it's supposed to be, and starts investing in socialized services for health care. Each person in the US pays nearly double or triple what citizens in other countries pay that have a socialized health care system.Furthermore, the rising cost of prescription drugs are preventing families from getting the medication they so desperately need. The US shouldn't be building walls, expanding our "struggling" military, or paying for Trump's extravagant trips to Mar-e-lago. We need to start investing in our own people.[/QUOTE] Couldn't agree more. We already pay more than any other nation on earth for worse quality care (and this was PRE-Obamacare, mind you), and [B]a huge reason for that is the massive administrative bureaucracies that private insurance companies all have (to see if you qualify, to check pricing in the area, screen applicants, etc), along with the billing staff that hospitals must hire to negotiate with these insurance companies.[/B] If anyone thinks [I]more [/I]'free market' is the answer (read: all Republicans, conservative voters, and Trump), they are either maliciously pushing an agenda or are ignorant of the facts. I'll leave a source below, since we live in an era of 'alternate facts.' Highly recommend the read to anyone. [URL]https://web.stanford.edu/.../povert.../soc_sec/universal.htm[/URL]

[QUOTE=Mr. Sarcastic;51915851]And yet we [i]still[/i] would rather spend [b]even more[/b] money on the military than make healthcare affordable for every American because "dats socialism". You just can't cure stupidity.[/QUOTE] Maybe once it reaches Zimbabwe levels they will wake up and actually learn something. It's like not buying car insurance because it's "waste of money" and "I'm not going to get into a car crash anyway". [QUOTE=Llamaguy;51915951]I know Bernie repeats this many times over, but I'm saying it again. The US is the [B][I]only[/I][/B] industrialized nation that [B][I] doesn't[/I][/B] entitle health care to its citizens as a right. His health care plan would've, on average, saved each family nearly $5000+ dollars a year, freeing that money up to be used for other means, creating a much higher velocity of money for the working class. All it would take is tacking an extra $200-$300 onto their taxes. It is about damn time the United States started acting like the god damn powerhouse it's supposed to be, and starts investing in socialized services for health care. Each person in the US pays nearly double or triple what citizens in other countries pay that have a socialized health care system.Furthermore, the rising cost of prescription drugs are preventing families from getting the medication they so desperately need. The US shouldn't be building walls, expanding our "struggling" military, or paying for Trump's extravagant trips to Mar-e-lago. We need to start investing in our own people.[/QUOTE] dats socialism

tiny 10 million non-belivers Country slams your superpower buzz ... For the Science, down with the believers into oblivion !

[QUOTE=Mr. Sarcastic;51915851]And yet we [i]still[/i] would rather spend [b]even more[/b] money on the military than make healthcare affordable for every American because "dats socialism". You just can't cure stupidity.[/QUOTE] While I definitely agree that the US should adopt a different healthcare model, I don't think the effect on life expectancy should be exaggerated - life style risk factors probably have a much larger effect on life expectancy than the the access to the more expensive treatments. Minimizing the risk of getting lung cancer is much more effective than trying to improve treatment, as evidenced by the disparity between two otherwise pretty similar countries; Sweden and Denmark: [url]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK62583/[/url] Still, obviously it has an impact - and without even mentioning life expectancy, the arguments against the US model can be laid out in purely financial terms; spending twice as much for arguably less rates just about "insane" on the rationality meter.

[QUOTE=HappyCompy;51915972]Couldn't agree more. We already pay more than any other nation on earth for worse quality care (and this was PRE-Obamacare, mind you), and [B]a huge reason for that is the massive administrative bureaucracies that private insurance companies all have (to see if you qualify, to check pricing in the area, screen applicants, etc), along with the billing staff that hospitals must hire to negotiate with these insurance companies.[/B] If anyone thinks [I]more [/I]'free market' is the answer (read: all Republicans, conservative voters, and Trump), they are either maliciously pushing an agenda or are ignorant of the facts. I'll leave a source below, since we live in an era of 'alternate facts.' Highly recommend the read to anyone. [URL]https://web.stanford.edu/.../povert.../soc_sec/universal.htm[/URL][/QUOTE] If those politicians were to have to live under the same stress regarding figuring out how to pay for healthcare that we can't afford that we do they'd change their tune real damn quick. The whole reason they're so obstinate about it is because they've never had to worry about paying for it, they've always been able to afford to pay OOP without problem. They don't understand what it's like to have to choose between regular checkups and putting food in the fridge...

[QUOTE=F.X Clampazzo;51915545]Considering for a brief second that the only major hospital in my state, which is considered a regional trauma center and is the only one in the state with a helicopter as well, has had on average more cases of MRSA in a year than they're allowed to have in a 10 year period to be considered not absolutely fucking garbage by the CDC. I'm not really surprised by this news. Healthcare in this country is a fucking joke anywhere that isn't a major population hub.[/QUOTE] It's a fucking joke everywhere else in the country too. It has low-average quality compared to the rest of the world, and costs 3-5x more than anywhere else in the world. People actually die just because they can't afford treatment and medicine. In the modern era. And the GOP fights to keep it that way.

[QUOTE=RenegadeCop;51916923]The fact 1/3 of every adult is obese does not help. You can't take medicine for shitty diets and bad decisions.[/QUOTE] People cannot afford healthy choices due to having to pay out of the ass for other aspects of life (health insurance, outrageous cable/internet/phone prices, etc.).

[QUOTE=RenegadeCop;51917095]No one forces people to buy soda, chips, snackcakes, and other garbage. You'd save money drinking water and eating sandwiches. You don't have to drink Fuji water and eat expensive salads every day, you just have to avoid the garbage.[/QUOTE] I mean, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Lunchmeat is expensive as fuck. Junk food is so stupidly cheap, too. There's the prime example of cost-effective eating, such as a diet of rice and beans, but that's not very flavorful, nor "good" for you, just not bad. Eating decently costs decent money.

It's not cheap to eat healthy, and it's not healthy to eat cheap. Eating decent is a middle ground that a lot of Americans can't afford. That box of pasta-roni is waaay cheaper than making some actual chicken alfredo, and way faster, which is also a key point when you're working soul crushing work for just enough pennies to survive and you seriously would rather just slowly die than cook your self a proper meal because you don't have the energy to do so. It's easy to eat well if you know how, but a lot of people don't because as the poster above me said, they were never taught. It's a combination of finance and bad parenting. And honestly a lot of Americans grew up in the age of marketing Great Starts frozen breakfast sandwiches, ready in just 3 easy microwave minutes. All these new magic fast foods, and they're made with 'fresh whole eggs' and 'a buttermilk biscuit' but really they're just convenient trash and this kind of food has been sold to us as otherwise, parents bought it, their kids bought it, now their kids' kids are buying it too.

Looks like the U.S. is keeping Social Security then. Just less people will live long enough to claim it. This is probably a lot easier than raising the age requirement to claim SS

[QUOTE=HappyCompy;51915972]Couldn't agree more. We already pay more than any other nation on earth for worse quality care (and this was PRE-Obamacare, mind you), and [B]a huge reason for that is the massive administrative bureaucracies that private insurance companies all have (to see if you qualify, to check pricing in the area, screen applicants, etc), along with the billing staff that hospitals must hire to negotiate with these insurance companies.[/B] If anyone thinks [I]more [/I]'free market' is the answer (read: all Republicans, conservative voters, and Trump), they are either maliciously pushing an agenda or are ignorant of the facts. I'll leave a source below, since we live in an era of 'alternate facts.' Highly recommend the read to anyone. [URL]https://web.stanford.edu/.../povert.../soc_sec/universal.htm[/URL][/QUOTE] That link wasn't working for me so [URL="https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/soc_sec/universal.htm"]here[/URL]

[QUOTE=FinalHunter;51925223]I'm sorry but how many people actually WANT to live to 90? What the fuck is there to do when you're that old other than sit around? You can't do anything[/QUOTE] I'd rather live to 90 than die of something preventable that I literally could not afford the medication for while living in a (supposedly) first-world country.

[QUOTE=Mr. Sarcastic;51915851]And yet we [i]still[/i] would rather spend [b]even more[/b] money on the military than make healthcare affordable for every American because "dats socialism". You just can't cure stupidity.[/QUOTE] bbbuuut healthcare isnt a right, see, access to guns... nope no access to healthcare mentioned explicitly. the problem we have is that republicans say it isnt a right and the democrats say it is, look at how they twist away from this question by saying its personal responsibility or access is a right or that governments shouldnt be doing this for people yadayadayada but they will not say healthcare is a right to all americans