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The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

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Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#171

Post by throwaway173738 »

theGnuMe wrote: post #130
poulsbohemian wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"1 in 25 Americans being born will not make it to their 40th birthday." >(The cardio health one doesn't seem as strong). Here's a bit of an anecdote, but I bet my family isn't alone in this type of story... my cousin died from cardiac arrest at age 45. Keeping the story here brief - he was a high-income business owner who got into a tough spot in his marriage and business, found himself without health insurance when…

That's really tragic to hear. In your case doesn't the ACA limit your out of pocket max?

Only for marketplace plans. For plans purchased through employers the sky is the limit.

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#172

Post by sobkas »

Gigachad wrote: post #163
dudul wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re: car fatalities, one word: phones.

Phones exist everywhere. Why would Americans be more affected?

> Phones exist everywhere. Why would Americans be more affected?

Because with advent of SUVs you can't actually see most of the things that you normally would see through your car window. Because SUVs are bigger people believe they are safer, they are deathtraps on wheels for everyone involved. Also because they are bigger drivers believe they can bully everyone else on the street or just don't pay any attention to what is going outside.

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#173

Post by wolverine876 »

bitwize wrote: post #37
Swenrekcah wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ll admit I didn’t look up those numbers but I read about these things way too regularly. But that’s of course not the main thing about guns and kids in the US like everyone knows.

Statistically speaking, suicide is the #1 cause of gun death in the US, gang activity is #2. School shootings are far down the list. They get a lot of attention but don't account for a large proportion of deaths. Of course, that any of these deaths occur is tragic, which is why the most sensible solution is repeal of the Second Amendment and implementation of a nationwide, federal license requirement to purchase or o…

> gang activity is #2

What is that based on? The only people I hear even talk much about 'gangs' is conservative propgandists trying to demonize black and brown people and cities. I'm not saying no gangs exist, but they aren't really an issue (unless you define 'gang' as any association of >1 person

> the most sensible solution is repeal of the Second Amendment and implementation of a nationwide, federal license requirement to purchase or own a firearm. 120-day grace period. License each gun, turn them in, or go to jail.

It's a politicized judiciary. For centuries, nobody interpreted the 2nd Amendment the way the conservative judges do now, but when the Federalist Society intentionally politicized the judiciary, this is what happened.

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#174

Post by WalterBright »

bilbo0s wrote: post #119
whakim wrote: post #97

The original article points out that the primary difference between the US and the UK (as well as other peer countries) is that you're much more likely to die young in the US. A 5-year-old in the United States has a 4% chance of dying before age 40, whereas a 5-year-old in Australia, Austria, Canada, England and Wales, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, or Switzerland has ~1% chance of dying before age 40 (val…

Woah! Deaths by billion vehicle miles in UK - 5.2. In US - 12.5. (both have tens of thousands of KSI, but the US has over twice as many per cap. In fact, way, more KSI from car accidents than even gun related homicide in the US. I hadn't realized that!) Deaths by gun related homicide in UK - 200. In US - 20000. (Both numbers pale in comparison to motor vehicle deaths, but there are a lot more in the US. Probably to b…

> I hadn't realized that!

That's because the media only reports on unusual deaths.

For example, sometimes I'll see the emergency crews pulling a body out of Lake Washington. It never makes the news. Drowning deaths are too common.

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#175

Post by pedrosorio »

sgc wrote: post #132
whakim wrote: post #97

The original article points out that the primary difference between the US and the UK (as well as other peer countries) is that you're much more likely to die young in the US. A 5-year-old in the United States has a 4% chance of dying before age 40, whereas a 5-year-old in Australia, Austria, Canada, England and Wales, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, or Switzerland has ~1% chance of dying before age 40 (val…

As you can see in his chart at [1] from the same thread, drugs, violence, and accidents only explain less than 1/3 of the difference, so the rest would be mainly various disease/lifestyle and care related issues (the overwhelmingly top causes of death in the US [2]). I think those graphs are a easy to misread, the long tail of somewhat poorer results is less dramatic than that younger gap, but actually includes much…

> In [1], you can see that the last cause, cardiovascular, explains more of the difference than drugs, violence, and accidents combined.

This is for overall life expectancy, not 5 to 40 death rates though. I would expect cardio-metabolic disease is a significant driver of "early" deaths (say before 65) in those over 40 in the US compared to other developed countries.

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#176

Post by Jedd »

The numbers, and explanations, are both fascinating and despairing.

But, as an outsider (AU) looking in, they're not at all surprising.

Getting most of my information about the USA from what might be called (there) as left-leaning (but elsewhere as centrist) -- or witty aphorisms like 'Russia's about to find out why we don't have health care' (wrt weapons shipment to Ukraine), or the despairingly persistently applicable '"No Way to Prevent This", Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens' satirical headline -- this all seemed to be a generally well-acknowledged consequence of the society there?

To informed USA citizens, are these figures genuinely unexpected?

Or alternatively, is it the figures for the rest of the world that are the unexpected revelation here?

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#177

Post by WalterBright »

nradov wrote: post #146
whakim wrote: post #97

The original article points out that the primary difference between the US and the UK (as well as other peer countries) is that you're much more likely to die young in the US. A 5-year-old in the United States has a 4% chance of dying before age 40, whereas a 5-year-old in Australia, Austria, Canada, England and Wales, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, or Switzerland has ~1% chance of dying before age 40 (val…

Yes, there has been a huge increase in the number of accidental fentanyl poisonings. I think this is now the leading cause of accidental death among young people, surpassing even vehicle crashes. Mexican drug cartels have been manufacturing counterfeit prescription painkillers and replacing active ingredients with fentanyl. They have bad quality control and sometimes just put in too much. Fentanyl is so potent that t…

That's why punishing Big Pharma for making opioid pills has the perverse effect of causing more opioid deaths due to no quality control on the illegal versions.

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#178

Post by wolverine876 »

theGnuMe wrote: post #127
rolenthedeep wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something happened during the initial stages of the pandemic. People lost their absolute minds and aggressive and reckless driving got way, way worst than I've ever seen. Hell, about an hour ago a cop tailgated me while I was going 15 over the limit, wove through traffic to cut me off, run a red light, then damn near ran another driver off the road. No lights, no emergency, just an asshole. This is the behavior you h…

>There's something very deeply wrong in American society, and I don't see things improving any time soon. Any hypothesis as to what it is? I think it is a lack of community. We've become transactional and virtual/online communities are not sufficient. In terms of driving I think it got a lot worse during the pandemic because with the lack of daily commuter traffic allowed people to drive faster and hence more reckles…

The encouragement of hate, outrage, prejudice, and mis- and disinformation. It's pretty transparent - we see the expected outcomes.

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#179

Post by avar »

Gordonjcp wrote: post #49
sammalloy wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Cars are getting so big that people can’t drive them. While controversial because car companies in the US intentionally chose to market large SUVs to the public, there is some evidence that smaller vehicles are safer and that auto manufacturers have doubled down on unsafe vehicles. Why this is the case, isn’t exactly known, but one of the theories is that bad drivers will get behind bigger cars and take more risks.…

> I’ve driven both large SUVs and smaller subcompacts, and I can talk at length on the pros and cons. One thing I find genuinely surprising is that the Renault Zoes we have as pool cars at work have got far bigger blind spots and far worse visibility than my 25-year-old Range Rover. And, in turn, although that Range Rover is described as an SUV (it's not especially sporty, it's a top-heavy three tonne army truck with…

It's because of modern safety regulations. A, B and C pillars are all thicker, so are doors. Windows don't go as low to improve crash outcomes.

Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England

#180

Post by [deleted] »

pedrosorio wrote: post #175
sgc wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As you can see in his chart at [1] from the same thread, drugs, violence, and accidents only explain less than 1/3 of the difference, so the rest would be mainly various disease/lifestyle and care related issues (the overwhelmingly top causes of death in the US [2]). I think those graphs are a easy to misread, the long tail of somewhat poorer results is less dramatic than that younger gap, but actually includes much…

> In [1], you can see that the last cause, cardiovascular, explains more of the difference than drugs, violence, and accidents combined. This is for overall life expectancy, not 5 to 40 death rates though. I would expect cardio-metabolic disease is a significant driver of "early" deaths (say before 65) in those over 40 in the US compared to other developed countries.

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