Posted on 01/15/2022 3:26:49 AM PST by Kaslin
An American baby born today can expect to live 77.3 years, on average -- 1.5 years less than Americans born in 2019, and considerably less than newborns in other Western democracies like the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, where life expectancies at birth exceed 80 years.
What causes this discrepancy?
It's our lack of socialized medicine, say the folks at the Commonwealth Fund. The left-leaning think tank recently released a study that ranked the United States dead last on a variety of "health care outcomes" compared to 10 other developed countries. The central premise of the report is that foreign countries' government-run healthcare systems deliver better medical care than our mixed public-private system.
That's not true, though. America's hospitals and doctors actually deliver some of the highest quality care in the world. We have worse health outcomes for a variety of reasons that are mostly outside of healthcare professionals' control.
Consider the pervasive violence in American society. The United States is similar to other developed nations when it comes to overall crime rates. But our homicide rate is much higher. A 2015 study found that "the homicide rate in the US was 7.5 times higher than in the other high-income countries combined."
And that gap has almost certainly widened in recent years. In 2020, U.S. homicides increased an unprecedented 30 percent over 2019 levels. 2021 almost certainly exceeded even 2020's grim toll.
This sky-high murder rate isn't merely tragic -- it also makes it harder to compare America and other countries on hot-button issues like maternal health.
It's well-documented that American women are more likely to die while pregnant. But what's less known is that homicide is the leading cause of death for new and expecting U.S. mothers, according to the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology. Among pregnant and postpartum women, murder is responsible for more than twice as many deaths as bleeding or placental disorders.
Drug overdoses are another massive and comparatively unique contributor to American mortality. Overdoses kill 3.5 times more people per capita in the United States than other high-income countries, on average, according to a 2019 report that utilized 2013 data. Americans were a staggering 28 times more likely to die of overdoses than the Japanese. The report found that overdoses "made large contributions to the widening of life expectancy gaps" between the United States and comparable countries.
And again, that gap has almost certainly widened since. In 2013, less than 44,000 Americans died of drug overdoses. Between May 2020 and April 2021, over 100,000 perished.
Americans drive far more than their European peers -- which explains why car accidents kill three times more people per capita in the United States than in Germany and four times more than in the United Kingdom.
We also have much higher rates of obesity and a greater prevalence of diabetes, heart disease, and chronic lung disease. This has more to do with culture, diet, and exercise than medical care.
When it actually comes to cutting-edge medical treatment, the United States leads the world.
Consider cancer, the second-leading cause of death globally. Cancer patients fare better here than anywhere else. A study in 2012 found that "for most cancers ... Americans lived an average of 11.1 years after diagnosis, compared with 9.3 years for Europeans." In 2018, there were 280 deaths per 100,000 in Europe, compared to just 189 per 100,000 in the U.S.
These higher survival rates are thanks partly to our higher screening rates, partly to our world-class surgeons and radiologists -- there's a reason that elite businessmen and politicians from around the globe head to places like the Mayo Clinic or MD Anderson for cancer treatment -- and partly to the advanced drugs our patients can access.
According to Columbia University professor Frank Lichtenberg, the recent decrease in U.S. cancer mortality is primarily due to new therapies. Of new oncology drugs developed between 2011 and 2018, 96 percent were available to Americans. Just 73 percent were available to Germans -- and 62 percent to the Swiss.
Our doctors and nurses may not be able to stop traffic accidents or prevent homicides. But they excel at treating the sick. Socialized medicine would only limit their resources -- and life expectancies would likely drop even more.
I an very sorry. It’s an awful malignancy.
My city keeps data on life expectancy by postal zipcode.
If my zipcode was the US average, the US would be #1 of all countries by about 2 years.
Its all about not being a bum and the US has far too many of them. Mostly in Blue cities.
Last time I posted this someone came back with a statistic that if you took the life expectancy data of California and New York out of the US average the US would be second to Hong Kong. Don’t quote me on that one.
Its no surprise since 100k are dying of fentanyl yearly that we know of. Also the Covid deaths must be a factor in death rates. Feel sure deaths rates will be revised for a final determination of American life expectancy.
Yeah, socialized medicine must be the reason, not all that drug use and gang warfare.
I once read that if you removed the stats for black people from the US life expectancy, we would be near the top of the list. Violent criminals and poor health choices among poor inner city blacks significantly drops the entire US average. In other words, if you are not a poor inner city black person, your life expectancy is excellent.
Notice how they divide people into identity groups or lump them all together depending on the result they want to get?
My son got quiet the education working at the hospital....said he never realized how certain minority groups run there for every little thing and expect top care with or without Insurance. Many are drug issues....they come there faking illness or pain to get a hit of drugs....or od. Then drunks and domestic assaults.....and gays show up with their fannies plugged with whatever.
https://www.rwjf.org/en/library/interactives/whereyouliveaffectshowlongyoulive.html
“Use the tool below, and interactive map, to explore how life expectancy in America compares with life expectancy in your area...”
We now have a de facto NHS.
Nuff said.
My guess is that homicide and drug addiction and overdoses have a something to do with it. Defund the police, black lives matter and drug legalization all have uniquely negative consequences for the USA.
Middle class (and upper class) Americans live much longer. Those lower down on the socio economic ladder make poor lifestyle choices (diet,exercise,drugs,alcohol,smoking) and they’re more prone to be the victims of violence.
And many,many things in between.
Very cool. 84.60 years per tool.
I an very sorry. It’s an awful malignancy.
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Yes, it is and I think most of us feel sorrow when we hear about it.
I think it has to do with overall decline in quality of life in the U.S. Violence, drugs, government corruption-mismanagement, mass immigration from third world countries (of course we get the worst of the lot). Our civil society is being undermined by leftist ideology. This strains resources. Socialized medicine would only make it worse. And no jackasses, it’s not climate change either.
Hey - if not "Divide and Conquer" then:
"Lump and Conquer"
- "depending on the result they want to get..."
The title says it all. Low Lifes bring down the Life Expectancy of the nation.
PLASTICS
- plastics in our clothes, plastic containers leaching plastics into our food and water. We live in a plastic world and it's Rockefeller poison that causes cancer in late life.
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