U.S. health is lousy compared with peer nations, report says • Hacker News Board

Re: U.S. health is lousy compared with peer nations, report says

#11

Post by npsimons » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 6:08 PM UTC

127001brewer wrote: post #7

I found the following blurb from the article interesting as it tries to make the information relevant the gun control debate: Gun use emerged as a factor: Americans were seven times more likely to die in a homicide and 20 times more likely to die in a shooting than their peers. In all, two-thirds of the mortality disadvantage for American men was attributable to people under the age of 50 -- and slightly over half of…

Why is health interesting to anyone? Viewed in a more hackish light: here's a problem; how can we fix it?

Re: U.S. health is lousy compared with peer nations, report says

#12

Post by aresant » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 6:11 PM UTC

This is a great example of how macro-statistics are inherently useless to predict individual outcomes (or even individual group outcome).

I'd go so far to say irresponsible to publish without disclaimers since these kinds of studies are so easy to regurgitate and buy into about the "state of the USA".

A glaring example - how can you even consider Japan a "peer" nation to the USA when comparing health?

Ethnicity has been shown, again and again, to have a gigantic impact on life expectancy - so a more compelling study may be USA Japanese with Japanese parents vs. Japanese in Japan.

But then again what about RICH Japanese in USA vs. RICH Japanese in Japan?

Or broken out by Japenese that follow different diets?

Or Japanese that smoke?

Or any of the other "studies" that try to identify individualized trends.

If we're trying to glean anything from this data beyond pageviews for newspapers then segment & compare the data along actually comparable lines - class, ethnicity, and regional lines.

Re: U.S. health is lousy compared with peer nations, report says

#13

Post by lostlogin » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 6:11 PM UTC

jchrisa wrote: post #10

No mention of corn and petroleum subsidies.

Please could you expand on that. I'm mystified.

Re: U.S. health is lousy compared with peer nations, report says

#14

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 6:12 PM UTC

RyanMcGreal wrote: post #6

[deleted] wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[deleted]

There's been a fair bit of research that even when you control for income, affluent people living in societies with high levels of inequality fare more poorly than affluent people in societies with lower levels of inequality.

[deleted]

Re: U.S. health is lousy compared with peer nations, report says

#15

Post by omegaworks » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 6:13 PM UTC

127001brewer wrote: post #8

RyanMcGreal wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's been a fair bit of research that even when you control for income, affluent people living in societies with high levels of inequality fare more poorly than affluent people in societies with lower levels of inequality.

That's very interesting - can you provide a reference?

Batman.

Re: U.S. health is lousy compared with peer nations, report says

#16

Post by cma » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 6:14 PM UTC

jchrisa wrote: post #10

No mention of corn and petroleum subsidies.

The bulk of corn subsidies are for ethanol, which should result in prices of i.e. HFCS going up, not down, right?

Re: U.S. health is lousy compared with peer nations, report says

#17

Post by DanBC » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 6:15 PM UTC

lostlogin wrote: post #13

jchrisa wrote: post #10

No mention of corn and petroleum subsidies.

Please could you expand on that. I'm mystified.

I'm guessing that corn subsidies in the US mean a glut of high fructose corn syrup. Too much cheap sugar in the diet is bad. (And then there's some extra stuff about too much fructose over other sugars.)

Oil subsidies mean people drive everywhere rather than cycling or walking.

Re: U.S. health is lousy compared with peer nations, report says

#18

Post by CletusTSJY » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 6:17 PM UTC

Look, you can't convince me life is worse in America than other countries. I watch House Hunters International, I see the size of those kitchens.

Re: U.S. health is lousy compared with peer nations, report says

#19

Post by graeme » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 6:18 PM UTC

aresant wrote: post #12

This is a great example of how macro-statistics are inherently useless to predict individual outcomes (or even individual group outcome). I'd go so far to say irresponsible to publish without disclaimers since these kinds of studies are so easy to regurgitate and buy into about the "state of the USA". A glaring example - how can you even consider Japan a "peer" nation to the USA when comparing health? Ethnicity has b…

When Japanese immigrate to America, their health outcomes quickly converge with those of other Americans. 'Ethnicity' isn't the culprit, usually - more likely culture and national policies.

Re: U.S. health is lousy compared with peer nations, report says

#20

Post by RyanMcGreal » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 6:20 PM UTC

127001brewer wrote: post #8

RyanMcGreal wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's been a fair bit of research that even when you control for income, affluent people living in societies with high levels of inequality fare more poorly than affluent people in societies with lower levels of inequality.

That's very interesting - can you provide a reference?

Check out The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger by Richard Wilkinson et al.