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You can complain about high taxes, high prices, large numbers of homeless, illegal immigrants or whatever else you want about the blue states, but there are few indicators that are a better gauge of the well-being of the population than life expectancy. And in that category, blue states stand head-and-shoulders above the red states.
There are some red states in the Plains and Rocky Mountains that do pretty well, but they still aren't as good as the top 10 blue states.
When every freeloader calls 911 for every little tart and fart and the bill
is passed onto the taxpayer it's no wonder!
Looking at the map and list in my OP, the only southern state that appears to have a high-ish life expectancy, and that also is a retirement haven, is Florida. But, Florida is purple, not red. Arizona is also OK, but it, too, is purple these days.
Thus, your objection more or less proved my original point. Even the warmer states that have higher life expectancies, tend to be more purple, not red.
This is your assertion:
"Because the states with lower life expectancy tend to be warmer states, and people - especially older people - hate cold and snowy weather, so they move to the warmer states."
That has zero to do with politics but just climate.
If this were true, then NM, Arizona, Florida, and Texas which are warmer, popular retirement destinations would have low life expectancy.. they don't. If you look at the map as a whole, it doesn't back your assertion. There are areas of high life expectancy in both northern and southern climates. If anything it closer maps poverty.
You can complain about high taxes, high prices, large numbers of homeless, illegal immigrants or whatever else you want about the blue states, but there are few indicators that are a better gauge of the well-being of the population than life expectancy. And in that category, blue states stand head-and-shoulders above the red states.
There are some red states in the Plains and Rocky Mountains that do pretty well, but they still aren't as good as the top 10 blue states.
Meh, canada has them all beat... According to the latest WHO data published in 2018 life expectancy in Canada is: Male 80.9, female 84.7 and total life expectancy is 82.8
Meh, canada has then all beat... According to the latest WHO data published in 2018 life expectancy in Canada is: Male 80.9, female 84.7 and total life expectancy is 82.8
I would agree that diet is a factor. Undoubtedly things like smoking habits as well.
But yet again, the fact that even within the same race we see that people in blue states live longer, tells us that race is a secondary factor.
Whites in blue states tend to live longer than whites in red states.
Blacks in blue states tend to live longer than blacks in red states.
Latinos in blue states (with a weaker correlation) tend to live longer than Latinos in red states.
You red state fans are going to have to live with the fact that something about the states you love, is killing its residents prematurely.
The differences between red versus blue states by race or minimal with red states sometimes better. I will agree that overall the stats favor the blue states in this case which I happen to believe goes back to diet for the most part.
The differences between red versus blue states by race or minimal with red states sometimes better. I will agree that overall the stats favor the blue states in this case which I happen to believe goes back to diet for the most part.
What you believe doesn't measure up to actual measurements and statistics.
Life style includes diet, but it also includes the "creed" of the people in question. The "Puritan Work Ethic" which formed New England differs greatly from the forces that formed the South or the Appalachians.
My friends in Belgium told me "Send a German into the Forest with a Butterknife and he will emerge with a Locomotive". The same is somewhat true of the New England settlers...
Access to good health care is really big time. As one example, we have a family member with a fairly rare condition and we have been on email lists of communities of people with this since 1997. We could see MANY of the participants pass away quite quickly simply because they went to the local hospitals for treatment. That was the end of them.
Our family member goes to MGH in Boston and 20+ years later is still here.
With 98% of our Blue State covered by Health Insurance AND the largest life sciences industry in the USA...people have better access to better health care "all included".
If you lived in other states and had this (or many other) conditions, your life expectancy would be much shorter. If you live in MA and make 30K per year on a minimum wage job you can use the same surgeon that the King of Saudi Arabia sends his family to.
Education figures into diet and lifestyle also.
This is why health, in the USA at least, correlates to investment in "the commons", which includes education, environment, public health, access to health care and other such things.
Being behind Cuba in Life Span is definitely something to be ashamed of. A few years ago they were spending 250 per person per year and getting the same results we got for 8K per person per year.
Most every one of the things you mention are related to bad policy - even car accidents. In Florida they have no car inspection - and 2X the amount of car accidents and deaths.
To be fair, I highly doubt the car-accidents are higher in Florida because of the lack of car inspections(we don't have them here either). I lived there a couple years, the people are just terrible drivers. Plus there are loads of old people who can barely see. Plus all the tourists who don't know where they're going.
From a policy-perspective, there are plenty of things that could be done to lower the risk of transported-related fatalities. For instance, mass-transit is far safer than private-automobiles. But I would rather die than use it. And Florida is a massive sprawling mess.
Quote:
Originally Posted by craigiri
If more people are Obese it's often due to lack of education and public health....something championed by Conservatives (who fight for 64 oz sodas and more diabetes).
I don't believe obesity is from a lack of education. Until the 1960's, the poor had the lowest-rates of obesity. Obesity is 75% bad diets, and 25% people who never exercise.
There are a lot of things you could do from a policy-perspective, but should you? You could certainly mandate people have healthier diets, and you could also create conditions which force people to walk/bicycle more.
But a large reason why people were thin in the past, was because they actually had to do physical-labor. Washing clothes by hand, or dishes, or kneading bread, or hanging clothes on a line, or countless other tasks that require even a small amount of aerobic exercise would make a huge difference. Let-alone tending a garden, milking cows, or churning butter.
Quote:
Originally Posted by craigiri
Murder and gun violence are tied to gun laws and/or similar. MA has one of the lowest murder rates and longest lives...and the toughest gun laws!
Murder and other violence aren't related to gun-laws, but suicide rates definitely are. There is no correlation or even a negative-correlation between gun-ownership and murder-rates. But, there is an actual cause of murder, and it could be addressed if we actually wanted to. But you're talking about a total restructuring of our social and economic-system, so it would never happen.
Quote:
Originally Posted by craigiri
And look at the White Suicide rates there. You can control for whatever you want, but it is the result of modern policies that has kept the bottom states on the bottom.
Do you know what is causing the high rates of white suicides? I actually agree that they are the result of "modern policies", although they are somewhat the outcome of decades-old policies where the effects haven't become as noticeable until now.
You mentioned feelings of isolation. That is actually a modern phenomenon. And in rural areas, it is mostly the result of the depopulation of small towns. And why are rural areas being depopulated? In simple-terms, because tractors have replaced people. So fewer and fewer hands are needed on the farms, so all the young people have to move to the cities to find work, and all that are left is a handful of elderly people, who live further and further apart, and whose families have all left them.
Feelings of isolation are common in cities as well. In fact, people feel even more isolated in cities than they do in rural areas, even though they are surrounded by people. Throw on top of that the rise of drug-abuse which results from feelings of meaningless and hopelessness, where the world seems against you, and you have a lot of people, especially white-men, who are "checking-out" of life.
I know I think about it every single day.
Last edited by Redshadowz; 04-14-2019 at 07:31 PM..
This is your assertion:
"Because the states with lower life expectancy tend to be warmer states, and people - especially older people - hate cold and snowy weather, so they move to the warmer states."
That has zero to do with politics but just climate.
If this were true, then NM, Arizona, Florida, and Texas which are warmer, popular retirement destinations would have low life expectancy.. they don't. If you look at the map as a whole, it doesn't back your assertion. There are areas of high life expectancy in both northern and southern climates. If anything it closer maps poverty.
I was actually responding to Rakin's post below:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rakin
Then let's ask the question again...
why are people migrating out of these states when they get older? Why has NY State and IL lost population the last 10-20 years ?
The growth has been in the states where the life expectancy is lower and by your post has less to offer then the fantasy land up north.
Why is this ?
The main reason why people move out of states like NY and IL when they get older is because those are northern, cold, snowy states, and old people tend to dislike cold weather more and more as they get older. Which is why FL and AZ are retirement havens. I thought this was common knowledge, but I guess Rakin isn't up to date on some common knowledge. But yes, I agree that has nothing to do with politics (or, life expectancy for the matter) and everything to do with climate and the tendency of older people to tolerate cold less as they get older.
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