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U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further

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Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further

#141

Post by jtuente »

adventured wrote: post #87
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 ridicul…

I haven't read anything yet on the source of the fentanyl, do you have a worthwhile link?

Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further

#142

Post by w1nst0nsm1th »

jillesvangurp wrote: post #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…

Belgium here.

Do you want understand the cause behind the healthcare faillure in the US ?

Just take a look at the chart of the halthcare sector index of US Stock Market.

If I remember well, healthcare was once considered as defensive sector in bear market... Now, it beats, by far, even the financial sector in bull market.

Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further

#143

Post by BeetleB »

brotoss wrote: post #102
yesenadam wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More people die from it every year than Vietnam [Kind of off-topic] I'm guessing you mean by 'than Vietnam', 'than Americans died in the Vietnam war"? (Well I think so. Apologies if not.) That's a pretty macabre unit. Can you imagine how a Vietnamese person would feel reading that? Maybe in Vietnam they say 'More people die from [something] every year than America' - meaning what they call the American War[0]. Wouldn…

You're being pedantic for the sake of outrage.

>You're being pedantic for the sake of outrage.

Eh no.

Imagine you're sitting in Canada and say "The opiod epidemic kills more people annually than WW II", and then when confronted, you say "Of course I mean Canadian lives in WW II!"

Americans may only see 55000 deaths in Vietnam. The rest of the world (and HN is international in audience) sees a lot more.

Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further

#144

Post by ams6110 »

enraged_camel wrote: post #127
bluedino wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people are just too stubborn to go to the doctor. And many people go, knowing they can’t pay, because they’ll just never pay the bill and will dodge the bill collectors. Plenty of people receive free healthcare in the USA by virtue of never paying, but getting treated. It’s the middle class who pays their huge bills. Insurance doesn’t cover why these days and deductibles are insanely high. The poor get treated a…

They never pay the bill, because they can't. Do you understand how insanely expensive healthcare in this country is, especially if you're making minimum wage and have dependents? What do you suggest they do instead? Die? Let their kids die?

First, if you're making miniumum wage, don't have kids.

If you do, you (or at least your kids) likely qualify for Medicaid, so you do get treatment. Often preferentially. I have been to providers who have a 6-8 week lead time on appointments for new private insurance patients, but Medicaid patients get in almost immediately.

Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further

#145

Post by cpursley »

jillesvangurp wrote: post #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…

> Then there is the widespread obesity because of corn syrup being a heavily subsidized food ingredient

You forgot to mention that the US Gov't also subsides the other side via food stamps, which poor folks use to purchase corn syrup and cheap grain foods, further exasperating the obesity epidemic. It's true insanity.

Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further

#146

Post by [deleted] »

enraged_camel wrote: post #127
bluedino wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people are just too stubborn to go to the doctor. And many people go, knowing they can’t pay, because they’ll just never pay the bill and will dodge the bill collectors. Plenty of people receive free healthcare in the USA by virtue of never paying, but getting treated. It’s the middle class who pays their huge bills. Insurance doesn’t cover why these days and deductibles are insanely high. The poor get treated a…

They never pay the bill, because they can't. Do you understand how insanely expensive healthcare in this country is, especially if you're making minimum wage and have dependents? What do you suggest they do instead? Die? Let their kids die?

[deleted]

Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further

#147

Post by nonbel »

cpursley wrote: post #145
jillesvangurp wrote: post #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…

> Then there is the widespread obesity because of corn syrup being a heavily subsidized food ingredient You forgot to mention that the US Gov't also subsides the other side via food stamps, which poor folks use to purchase corn syrup and cheap grain foods, further exasperating the obesity epidemic. It's true insanity.

It gets more insane. I've also seen that in some places they instituted a "sugar-tax" but the federal government intervened and made an exception for people paying with food stamps: https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-soda-tax-food-sta...

Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further

#148

Post by ocschwar »

w1nst0nsm1th wrote: post #142
jillesvangurp wrote: post #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…

Belgium here. Do you want understand the cause behind the healthcare faillure in the US ? Just take a look at the chart of the halthcare sector index of US Stock Market. If I remember well, healthcare was once considered as defensive sector in bear market... Now, it beats, by far, even the financial sector in bull market.

Because wealthy aging boomers spend more on speculative anti-aging fads in a bull market.

Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further

#149

Post by Retric »

ams6110 wrote: post #144
enraged_camel wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They never pay the bill, because they can't. Do you understand how insanely expensive healthcare in this country is, especially if you're making minimum wage and have dependents? What do you suggest they do instead? Die? Let their kids die?

First, if you're making miniumum wage, don't have kids. If you do, you (or at least your kids) likely qualify for Medicaid, so you do get treatment. Often preferentially. I have been to providers who have a 6-8 week lead time on appointments for new private insurance patients, but Medicaid patients get in almost immediately.

Making minimum wage can happen years after having kids. I know a guy with two young kids who lost his job and is now making ~35% less. That’s not the kind of thing you can know ahead of time.

Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further

#150

Post by mcguire »

yesenadam wrote: post #71
beginningguava wrote: post #29

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…

More people die from it every year than Vietnam [Kind of off-topic] I'm guessing you mean by 'than Vietnam', 'than Americans died in the Vietnam war"? (Well I think so. Apologies if not.) That's a pretty macabre unit. Can you imagine how a Vietnamese person would feel reading that? Maybe in Vietnam they say 'More people die from [something] every year than America' - meaning what they call the American War[0]. Wouldn…

Possibly a better way to put it is to simply point out that the war caused something like 1.3-4.2 million deaths.

A similar bit of misfocus shows up in comments about the Holocaust, which technically refers to the 6 million Jewish dead rather than the estimated 17 million total.

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