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Is this a sign of a nation in decline? Why? Obesity increasing, drug OD on the increase. Suicides on the increase. Birth rate in decline, all are probable reason for life expectancy to decrease, but are they also signs of a society in decline?
Is this a sign of a nation in decline? Why? Obesity increasing, drug OD on the increase. Suicides on the increase. Birth rate in decline, all are probable reason for life expectancy to decrease, but are they also signs of a society in decline?
First things first. You make a statement that it is declining, yet you haven't included a link to some story making that claim that we can comment on. Or do you merely want us to comment on your opinion alone?
Is this a sign of a nation in decline? Why? Obesity increasing, drug OD on the increase. Suicides on the increase. Birth rate in decline, all are probable reason for life expectancy to decrease, but are they also signs of a society in decline?
1. What does the birth rate have to do with life expectancy?
2. I think the life expectancy issue is being largely driven by opiod addictions and other causes of non-elderly deaths. There are obviously a lot of factors, but that is the analysis I saw.
First things first. You make a statement that it is declining, yet you haven't included a link to some story making that claim that we can comment on. Or do you merely want us to comment on your opinion alone?
While it is true that the OP should have included a cite for his assertion, it's also true that I verified the claim via googling in about the time it must've taken you to complain about the lack of a cite. Think about that.
Furthermore, as illustrated above, this is a trend that has been ongoing for several years. Perhaps the OP merely assumed that people had heard about it previously. I know I certainly had. This isn't breaking news.
That said, the cause appears to be the opioid epidemic.
Quote:
Other statistics suggest that this alarming trend is caused by the epidemic of addiction to opioids, which is becoming deadlier. Drug overdoses claimed more than 63,000 lives in 2016. Two-thirds of these deaths were caused by opioids, including potent synthetic drugs such as fentanyl and tramadol, which are easier to overdo by accident and are becoming more popular among illegal drug users.
I don't think it's ever been proved that our health care system is inferior to any other country. Just because a country doesn't have socialized medicine, doesn't mean it has a bad system. People are covered by employer paid insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, self paid insurance etc. Even without insurance, hospitals are still required by law to care for those who come through their doors. The large number of people who come to the USA for medical care from other countries with socialized medicine proves we have a pretty good system
I don't think it's ever been proved that our health care system is inferior to any other (developed) country.
On what basis? On the most common scale (Outcomes ÷ Costs) we're pulling up the rear.
When you investigate where those extra costs the US has end up...
On what basis? On the most common scale (Outcomes ÷ Costs) we're pulling up the rear.
When you investigate where those extra costs the US has end up...
We're bringing up the rear cost wise, but quality wise we're not.
You get what you pay for.
I've been at the mercy of what some people consider a very good European model - the German model. Without going into detail, I'll just say that I much prefer the US model, even though at the moment, my husband and I are paying $1000 a month for insurance, with a $5000 each deductible. That's right - I didn't make a mistake with the zeros.
With socialized medicine, there's no way around dealing with rationed health care. I think many Americans assume that if we went to a socialized medicine system, their health care would stay the same, or maybe even improve. In my experience, that's not the case.
I think people also assume that someone else will pay the significantly higher tax burden. That's also not the case for most people. It's not like we'd just expand Medicare, Medicaid, or VA benefits as they exist today (reminder - if you don't like those systems, well, that's about what you'd get, only with even more red tape and fewer mandatory services). Right now, most people pay (or their employers pay) pretty significant premiums, and therefore we get what we need and what we want WHEN we need or want it (usually the same thing). With socialized medicine, there are usually waiting lists for surgeries such as knee replacements, cataract removal, etc. If, for example, you tear your Achilles tendon, you won't typically get the OPTION of either surgery (extremely effective) or "the conservative approach" which is casting for months (less invasive but also more prone to retearing/rerupture). Nope - you'll get the least expensive "conservative approach" and that's generally it unless yours is an unusual case.
And don't even think about a private room after you finally get that knee replacement after having been on a waiting list for months and maybe even years. Nope - get used to the idea of wards. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with wards - it's just not what we usually deal with here.
There are big differences that do cut down on the cost - and the services.
Illegal immigrants are mostly poor, and poor people tend to live shorter lives than middle or upper income people. With all the illegal immigrants here it's not surprising that they would drive down the average.
But our life expectancy should be getting longer because we fight fewer large scale wars.
So what are the longevity stats for native-born Americans?
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