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U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further

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81–90 of 278 posts

Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further

#81
I can think of a few other causes like sickness being a potentially bankrupting event so people don't go to a doctor when they should or too late.

This apparently is a risk, even if you have insurance because you are at the mercy of insurers not tossing you out over such whimsical reasons as pre-existing conditions or other bureaucratic tricks they use to kill their customers rather than getting them cured.

There are also these mafia extortion schemes that are completely legal where you have to pay through your nose for insurance in exchange for the privilege of not being charged tens of thousands of dollars for completely routine stuff like broken bones or other things that can and will go wrong for most people at some point. This is not a thing in most modern countries other than the US. Even many third world countries tend to get organized on this front to the best of their abilities.

Then there is the widespread obesity because of corn syrup being a heavily subsidized food ingredient (got to help those poor republican voting farmers). Also it seems there is a whole legislative game around shameless advertising on products where products that contain obscene amounts of corn syrup are advertised as "fat free" instead of "don eat this you stupid fat F*".

The reason for the drug overdoses is decades of shameless attempts by big pharma to coerce the US government on not cracking down on their quite successful attempts at selling heroine disguised as pain medication roughly at the same time when the war on drugs was a big thing. This too is much less of a thing outside of the US where pain medication tends to be very strictly regulated and not advertised every 10 minutes on TV.

In short, the above is the result of decades of misguided policies, failures to regulate, and greedy companies getting away with stuff they shouldn't get away with and lobbying successfully to get away with ever more.

Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further

#82
post #62

Drug overdose and abuse seem to me to be a symptom of something way more troubling. I can't help but feel like there is a sense of uselessness felt by and toward a large population in the US and rather than lift them up we are letting them be snuffed out.

> Drug overdose and abuse seem to me to be a symptom of something way more troubling. A general feeling of disconnectedness? Perhaps some existential dread in there. The United States (by and large) used to be lashed to religious moorings, which provided some sense of purpose and moral grounding, as well as fending off pesky questions like "what happens to me when I die?" The statistics that claim the US is still lar…

>used to be lashed to religious moorings, which provided some sense of purpose and moral grounding, as well as fending off pesky questions like "what happens to me when I die?"

I don't buy this for a second. There is a notable, consistent correlation with economic viability (lack thereof) and perceived/real economic inequality and the negative effects these have on a population. Drug use, mental illness, even infant mortality.

This is what is happening. People don't have good jobs, they don't have a good education (and in some cases their education doesn't net anything), and they don't have a "purpose." You don't need to invoke whimsical images of non-sense to guess at why people feel useless and/or are seeking drugs.

* https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2652881/

* https://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/drug-abuse

* https://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/mental-health

We are actively wasting multiple nations' resources and people's own personal lives over absurd policies and to cater to a very tiny portion of the population who is already rich beyond anyone's dreams.

Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further

#83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's the same issue as the prison population being so enormous. When someone does crime/drugs the country collectively just thinks that these people did it to themselves. I've heard people casually refer to criminals/addicts as animals, it's ridiculous.

Yes that's sad. But consider: what would you call someone who injected strangers with noxious drugs and enjoyed their torment? An animal? Is it so big a leap to think the same, when they're doing it to themselves?

Yes, it's a major leap and the fact that you can't see it is concerning.

If you are enjoying someone else's tourment, especially after you inflicted that tourment onto them, then you are a psychopath.

People who take drugs aren't taking it for the hangover, they are taking it for the high. If you remove the tormenting hangover, 100% of users would be fine with that.

You should seek psychiatric help and I'd be happy if my tax dollars were used to help you with your mental problems.

Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further

#84
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone replied to you with an ignorant comment that was deleted. I'm copy/pasting it here anyway because they are spewing common misconceptions that need to be squashed. > The US has 330 million people. Do we really care if a bunch self-select out of the gene pool? While some people do choose to use drugs with their own free will, this epidemic isn't about that. Many people getting addicted have been initially presc…

Seems their comment is gone too. I’d love to have been given the chance to downvote them. To me this all boils down to what you’re saying, but I’d like to just add mention that i think the bigger disease in the US that enables situations like this is the acceptance of misinformation. As you pointed out, many many many of these cases are started by a medically issued prescription, and it kills multiple times more peop…

>"In the very near future when climate change has destroyed out planet"

Maybe people are killing themselves because they are addicted to the fear porn spread by mainstream/social media regarding "climate change". I don't mean this as a joke, I was addicted to financial/economic fear porn for a bit and it did have a negative effect on my outlook.

Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further

#85
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US healthcare outcomes in most areas aren't actually particularly good, though (iirc, it does reasonably well on cancer, but is under par on most other stuff). The US healthcare system is expensive because it's inefficient.

I would argue that it's expensive because it is private and unregulated. The amount of anger the healthcare system can cause in the US is unbelievable. Example, I had a surgery that was pre-approved. Then, I received a bill for $20k. I called the insurance and they said the company wanted to charge them to much and they could not come to an agreement, therefore, they are not paying. So, I call the surgery place and t…

> I would argue that it's expensive because it is private and unregulated.

Oh, sure, that's likely what makes it inefficient.

Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further

#86

The opioid epidemic is an amazing example of human psychology and the power of a visual. More people die from it every year than Vietnam, yet there's been no large public outcry to resolve the situation because it isn't right in your face like a 9/11 or pearl harbor. Even ignoring the human impact and just going to economics, those lost lives will cost the US billions in lost productivity over time, yet nobody really…

Some blame needs to rest on the shoulders of the CDC, even the AMA[1] has come out against the guidelines the CDC put up over two years ago that others have used as guidance, incorrectly. The CDC needs to clarify the guidelines or just flat out back off so that those in pain and prescribed pain medication can get it. Far too often the guidelines are being used by non Doctors to deny needed medication

https://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2018/11/14/ama-calls...

Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further

#87
post #13

This seems like a case of temporary circumstances and statistical creating a doomsday picture. The temporary circumstances seem to be the suicide rate brought on by the still recovering economy and glib life prospects. Partly related to this is a new deadly drug that is gaining popularity. Add to this the statistical factors like the anti smoking and healthy living campaigns hitting their peak effect a few decades af…

> To me, it seems like life exectancy will improve again as the economy improves and governments find ways to fight fentynal. I find this exceedingly difficult to believe in the rural areas of the US. The current expansion is almost the longest on record, going on since 2009. The structural forces that have hollowed out the economies of rural areas (widening inequality, e-commerce, globalization, etc.) are only incre…

The biggest problem in the overdose spike is that fentanyl is killing very large numbers of people that otherwise might not have died of overdoses from heroin a decade or more ago.

The US is being blasted from outside by huge quantities of fentanyl, primarily by China. It's bordering on an act of war (Opium War style). The notion that China can't stop the fentanyl pouring out of their country toward the US is ridiculous. It's going to end up killing hundreds of thousands of Americans over ten years. Imagine if the roles were reversed and US was pumping that kind of drug into China in such quantities, killing a million Chinese every decade, and pretending it couldn't stop it.

Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there other countries where the news media is as hell-bent on stoking the fires of craziness and painting the world as a horrible, horrible place full only of strife and despair?

The big change relatively recently is that suicides in rural areas are now far higher than urban. Have you been to a rural area in the US recently? Most have been completely hollowed out - there is no hope in a lot of these places. The despair there is real.

Can you be more specific than just 'rural'? I've been through middle Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas and those areas seem mostly fine to me. Is it because rural farming is still ok but other rural like appalachia or rural Montana isn't doing well? Specifically where is hollowed out?

Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further

#89

Drug overdose and abuse seem to me to be a symptom of something way more troubling. I can't help but feel like there is a sense of uselessness felt by and toward a large population in the US and rather than lift them up we are letting them be snuffed out.

as someone who often feels useless (more like impotent rage most times) I can totally see why some people chose the path they chose.

Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further

#90
post #84
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems their comment is gone too. I’d love to have been given the chance to downvote them. To me this all boils down to what you’re saying, but I’d like to just add mention that i think the bigger disease in the US that enables situations like this is the acceptance of misinformation. As you pointed out, many many many of these cases are started by a medically issued prescription, and it kills multiple times more peop…

>"In the very near future when climate change has destroyed out planet" Maybe people are killing themselves because they are addicted to the fear porn spread by mainstream/social media regarding "climate change". I don't mean this as a joke, I was addicted to financial/economic fear porn for a bit and it did have a negative effect on my outlook.

While our media does abuse fear as a way of getting attention, the opioid epidemic has direct lines to pharmaceutical companies.

People dying from their addiction aren't killing themselves, they are struggling to survive.

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