Violence, Traffic Accidents and U.S. Life Expectancy

WSJ ^ | August 25th | Matthew Dalton

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

Socialist medicine can't unwrap cars from lightposts. Nor can it revive you from once you've been shot in the head. So it seems to me this is a fairly valid way to look at the numbers.

[GCC Catholic]

Beck mentioned this on his radio show over a week ago.

It’s a good point to keep bringing up amongst normal (but ignorant) folks who might actually use their faculties of reason.

[FreedomPoster]

Interesting.

I don’t expect there to be any demographic analysis of who is causing, and being the victims of, most of the homicides.

[Sherman Logan]

In a footnote to its 2008 economic survey of the U.S., the agency says that Ohsfeldt and Schneider’s estimates are based in part on GDP. If you don’t factor in GDP, the U.S. ranks 17th in the world for life expectancy when the high U.S. rate of fatal injuries is ignored, the OECD said.

Very poorly written. How exactly does GDP factor into life expectancy?

[MaxMax]

Kill me now, and don’t force me to take you with me?

[Ophiucus]

I don’t expect there to be any demographic analysis of who is causing, and being the victims of, most of the homicides.

There is but it is extremely politically incorrect so never reported.

[Canedawg]

And a sub-issue is the fact that medical treatment for the overwhelming amount of injuries suffered in auto accidents are covered by auto insurance policies (some states, like Florida, do not have mandatory insurance enforcement, but most drivers in the nation do have insurance and no-fault benefits).

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

That is an excellent point.

[Canedawg]

Yes, and in addition to no-fault benefits for medical treatment in car accidents, another unspoken fact is that in almost every case where a personal injury claim is filed against a property owner, and the plaintiff receives medical treatment, the property owner has insurance that covers treatment. But more importantly, most doctors will agree to treat the patients and have a lien on the case- so that when it is settled, the medical/health care provider receives payment (though not always a dollar on the dollar).

So whenever you hear the fallacy about people in accidents not getting treatment because of no health insurance, that is in most cases a bunch of bunk.

[Freds2nd]

It’s more than homicides that are associated with the group in question. Let’s see a longevity study taking in account the effect of: AIDS, obesity, TB, drug and alcohol addiction, etc., etc.

[arthurus]

In Florida if your insurance lapses your license gets suspended very shortly thereafter.If the company transposes a digit and lapses you 3 months early you find out about it when you get arrested a week later.

[Canedawg]

I have heard of many instances in Florida where people (mostly illegals) are driving around with no insurance and get into accidents and have no coverage for the injured patries.

And unless one has uninsured motorist insurance to cover such an instance, you’d be SOL.

[arthurus]

Illegals have no insurance and no licenses or tags. It all goes together. In some jurisdictions if the driver appears to be a “Hispanic” he won’t be stopped for traffic violations, even with no tag on the car. They are apt to get deported, however, if they are involved in accidents, so they run away if possible.

[PapaBear3625]

Also keep in mind how much of our allegedly high “infant mortality” rate comes from our attempts to save prematurely born babies that would just be classified as “miscarriages” in Europe.

[jnsun]

It’s more than homicides that are associated with the group in question. Let’s see a longevity study taking in account the effect of: AIDS, obesity, TB, drug and alcohol addiction, etc., etc.

These along with similar above are excellent points. And are implicitly, or subconsciously, the basis for most American adults' (with the emphasis on adult) opposition to the government mandated healthcare schemes. The problem is there is NO one in the public forum that clarifies this - largely due to the Media filter, but also to the pusillanimity of PR-starved politicians.

The point is, for responsible people, those who are conservative and honest with themselves, exisitng US healthcare is paramount. But that of course also applies inevitably across the board to other standards of life in a free country, which of course we are losing.

Accurate, appropriate, excellent, points, but the Media IS the ENEMY.

[SandRat]

You left out Wife batterers that drive their wives to suicide or beat them to death outright.

[OA5599]

Don't forget our diets. Compared to Europe, we have higher incidences of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

A new study, conducted by researchers at Emory University Rollins School of Public Health and published online on October 1, 2007 by Health Affairs, revealed that Americans over the age of 50 are more likely to be diagnosed with chronic illnesses than their European counterparts.

The findings also indicated that patients in the United States are also more likely to get medical treatment for these costly diseases. This would make US health care 100 to 150 billion dollars (70 to 105 billion Euros) more expensive than in Europe annually.

According to the study, Americans are more susceptible to chronic diseases because of two reasons:

-Obese Americans are nearly two times more than obese Europeans.

-There are more current or former cigarette smokers in the US population than in Europe.

The researchers used the 2004 data on the prevalence and treatment of diseases among adults of age 50 and above and compared those in United States and those in the 10 European countries: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

There are 33.1 percent of older Americans are obese, compared with 17.1 percent of Europeans.

For smoking, there are 53 percent of Americans are former or current smokers, compared with 43 percent of Europeans.

And yet our life expectancy is within eight months of those in the European Union (78.7 years in EU vs. 78.1 years in US) -CIA World Fact Book

Let us also not forget the propensity for some races to live longer than others. The highest life expectancy in the world is in Macau at 84.4 years, which is 95% Chinese. Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong are among the highest too at 82.1, 82.0 and 81.9 years respectively.

Conversely, Africans have the lowest life expectancy. However, due to malnutrition, disease and violence on the continent, I can't exactly use their life expectancy to estimate what black people in the US should live to.

Yet the fact remains that the US is the most ethnically diverse place on the planet, while the EU is 95%+ white. How could anyone making a study of life expectancies gloss over that?

Through our diversity, diets, violence, driving habits, etc. we have a lower life expectancy than the EU. That is not an indictment of our health care system. If our health care is so inferior, how do you explain the following:

Survival Rates Significantly Higher in United States Than in Europe

One of the reports compares the statistics from Europe with those from the United States and shows that for most solid tumors, survival rates were significantly higher in US patients than in European patients.

This analysis, headed by Arduino Verdecchia, PhD, from the National Center for Epidemiology, Health Surveillance, and Promotion, in Rome, Italy, was based on the most recent data available. It involved about 6.7 million patients from 21 countries, who were diagnosed with cancer between 2000 and 2002.

The age-adjusted 5-year survival rates for all cancers combined was 47.3% for men and 55.8% for women, which is significantly lower than the estimates of 66.3% for men and 62.9% for women from the US Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program ( P < .001).

Survival was significantly higher in the United States for all solid tumors, except testicular, stomach, and soft-tissue cancer, the authors report. The greatest differences were seen in the major cancer sites:

-colon and rectum (56.2% in Europe vs 65.5% in the United States)

-breast (79.0% vs 90.1%)

-prostate cancer (77.5% vs 99.3%)

This "probably represents differences in the timeliness of diagnosis," they comment.

[jwparkerjr]

re: some states, like Florida, do not have mandatory insurance enforcement

Tell that to my grandson who hit a man who ran a stop sign, totaling my grandson's car. He couldn't afford a new car. He let his insurance drop since he no longer had a car. In a matter of weeks he was notified his drivers license has been suspended for not complying with the law that requires ever DRIVER, not car owner, carry minimum insurance.

Florida is pretty tough in requiring insurance and enforcing the requirements. A fast way to end up in jail in Florida is get stopped while driving with a suspended license. The officer will impound the car and book you into the county jail. Period. No if’s, and’s or but’s. My son is a deputy sheriff and he says they have a zero tolerance for driving on a suspended or revoked license.

Just curious, why did you think Florida did not have mandatory auto insurance laws?

[Canedawg]

What i wrote was, "...some states, like Florida, do not have mandatory insurance enforcement".

As the other poster noted above, confirming what I said, there are MANY illegals driving around Florida with no tags and no insurance.

They arent ENFORCING the mandatory insurance laws against them, and it becomes like the wild, wild west, where they get into accidents and take off from the scene, leaving the injured driver to fend for themselves (which is why EVERYONE needs UM or SUM insurance).

[jwparkerjr]

Points well taken. Personally I am not aware of a campaign not to stop Hispanics for traffic violations, but it might well be the case in some jurisdictions. I'm not sure what else can be done to enforce the law. They used to have roadblocks where everyone had to produce their drivers license, registration and proof of insurance. The ACLU put a stop to that madness </s>.

No-Fault insurance was supposed to be cure all for driver's insurance woes. It's turned out to be quite harmful. In essence it puts the driver in the right at the mercy of the insurance company for the driver who caused the problem. I want someone who fights for me, not the guy who caused the accident.

Thanks!