My little brother killed himself last month.
My cousin OD'ed on heroin in 2016. My old classmate, 2 weeks after him - same church for the funeral.
One of my best friends killed himself in 2015.
U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further
241–250 of 278 posts
Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further
#242Earlier quoted context omitted.
So part of your solution to healthcare is poor people not having kids? How do intend we accomplish that?
Yes. I think we need stronger education in middle school and high school as to what kids cost, and what they deserve in terms of a stable home and parenting, education, etc. And to not have kids until you are in a position to provide those things. It's a biological drive so it's tough. But I think we could do better. We're too sensitve that we might be "poor shaming" or such nonsense to even discuss it these days.
> I think we need stronger education in middle school and high school as to what kids cost, and what they deserve in terms of a stable home and parenting, education, etc. And to not have kids until you are in a position to provide those things.
That's mostly value indoctrination (both the what they deserve part and the “do not do X if you cannot do Y” part fairly directly,and also the “what they cost” if it focuses on what a preferred approach costs rather than the costs of a spectrum of choices), not education.
> It's a biological drive so it's tough
It's also an economic choice, which is why birthrate declines with strength of social safety nets.
(Which is also why strengthening the social safety net is probably a better approach than trying to shame people into not reproducing.)
Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further
#243I would like to see this correlated to access to "health care", which need not necessarily translate to improved health. From personal experience, I have a strong suspicion that much of this "care" is actually harming people. In particular I am concerned about over-prescription of anti-pain/anxiety/depressant medications and incorrect dietary modifications (eg, to eat a low-fat/salt/cholesterol diet). EDIT: Very roug…
The psychiatrist David Healy wrote an awesome, but poorly titled book called Pharmageddon just on this point. By some estimates up to 500K people a year are killed due to bad interaction with the medical system. Per a Johns Hopkins report they estimate around 180K. Its worth noting this is not just medical errors which are incredibly frequent, but much of it is due to side effects of correctly prescribed drugs.
Thanks, not sure if I would read an entire book on it though. What source of data does he use?
Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further
#244I 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…
I thought preexisting conditions was eliminated by the ACA? Also corn syrup is not the real culprit. It is just overeating in general. Portion sizes are huge in the US compared to the EU.
Preexisting conditions are still a thing if you cannot afford normal health insurance because you are self-employed and have to scrape by on short-term health insurance. It sucks.
Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further
#245Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you mean by hard questions? Does it include things like "what happens after we die?"? I think those questions are best answered by religion, but religion is being attacked, or at the very least, excluded in most thought-provoking venues. Take for example the school that reject have Chick-fil-A on campus because of its (Chick-fil-A's) religious leanings[0]. Or the fact discussing religion on this very website…
> Take for example the school that reject have Chick-fil-A on campus because of its (Chick-fil-A's) religious leanings[0]. Or the fact discussing religion on this very website is generally frowned upon - though that seems to be a reaction to people's recent animosity towards religion. That article you linked seems to suggest that the school doesn't like Chick-fil-A's leanings towards gay rights. Do you tie gay rights…
Interesting. I did not realize the history behind Chick-fil-A. I stand corrected - that was a poor example. The extent of my knowledge there was the christian underpinnings of Chick-fil-A's founder and the statements made in the article.
Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, of course not! Just pointing out the craziness of how the system actually works.
How do food stamps add to the craziness if they're not making things worse for the recipients?
They give the recipients the ability to get unhealthy food at the cost of the US taxpayer. This causes multiple issues that affect all taxpaying Americans in addition to the cost of the food subsidy, including adding to the cost of providing healthcare (pushing up premiums, etc).
Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I personally don't think religion has a large effect on opioid use or suicide but if it does have one it's a positive one. That was my point. As for insulting people, that isn't my intent. I have only my own observations to go on, and I don't know other people's situations or story, especially religion. My personal experience has been rather shallow. No one asks hard questions, no one talks about God unless they're…
What do you mean by hard questions? Does it include things like "what happens after we die?"? I think those questions are best answered by religion, but religion is being attacked, or at the very least, excluded in most thought-provoking venues. Take for example the school that reject have Chick-fil-A on campus because of its (Chick-fil-A's) religious leanings[0]. Or the fact discussing religion on this very website…
CFA was not blocked for its religious leanings, but "based on the company's record widely perceived to be in opposition to the LGBTQ community".
Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further
#248I 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…
>his 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. I've never seen a commercial for a pain medication or opioid, they're usually for some heart/skin condition, ED, STD treatment, or something related to aging.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-advertisin...
This paints a bit of a different picture ... I imagine somebody cracked down on this more recently.
Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Take for example the school that reject have Chick-fil-A on campus because of its (Chick-fil-A's) religious leanings[0]. Or the fact discussing religion on this very website is generally frowned upon - though that seems to be a reaction to people's recent animosity towards religion. That article you linked seems to suggest that the school doesn't like Chick-fil-A's leanings towards gay rights. Do you tie gay rights…
Interesting. I did not realize the history behind Chick-fil-A. I stand corrected - that was a poor example. The extent of my knowledge there was the christian underpinnings of Chick-fil-A's founder and the statements made in the article.
Yeah, I'll again say that I've 100% met militant atheists before and they're quite an annoying bunch. But...
> The extent of my knowledge there was the christian underpinnings of Chick-fil-A's founder and the statements made in the article.
In the majority of these cases, people usually don't care about religion, as much as political views. IE: They may be pro-choice (while religious are typically pro-life), and that's what they're really annoyed about.
Or in this case, the Chick-Fil-A situation is 100% a gay rights issue more so than anything else.
Even the "Satanic Temple" is really just a bunch of trolls / a political group who are mostly concerned about separation of church-and-state issues. The "Satanic Temple" just uses the same tactics as right-wingnuts do: "Trigger the snowflakes". In any case, the entire strategy is to try to make the other side look bad by trolling and acting worse. I severely doubt that anyone in the Satanic Temple actually worships Satan, they seem to be atheists / secularists for the most part.
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Again, militant atheists who look down upon religion certainly exist. But they aren't commonly in major positions of power in my experience. So I'm always weary when any group blames things as a "War on Christians".
Re: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further
#250Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Empirically, the US health care market is both the most privatized and the most inefficient.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/01/america_...
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-08/cu-ups080211...