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from the If-you-can't-afford-the-medical-care dept.
A new study found that more than one million US deaths per year—including many young and working-age adults—could be avoided if the US had mortality rates similar to its peer nations:
In 2021, 1.1 million deaths would have been averted in the United States if the US had mortality rates similar to other wealthy nations, according to a new study led by a School of Public Health researcher.
Published in the journal PNAS Nexus, the study refers to these excess deaths as "Missing Americans," because these deaths reflect people who would still be alive if the US mortality rates were equal to its peer countries.
Comparing age-specific death rates in the U.S. and 21 other wealthy nations from 1933 through 2021, the authors find that current death rates in the US are much higher than other wealthy nations, and the number of excess U.S. deaths has never been larger.
"The number of Missing Americans in recent years is unprecedented in modern times," says study lead and corresponding author Jacob Bor, associate professor of global health and epidemiology.
Nearly 50 percent of all Missing Americans died before age 65 in 2020 and 2021. According to Bor, the level of excess mortality among working age adults is particularly stark. "Think of people you know who have passed away before reaching age 65. Statistically, half of them would still be alive if the US had the mortality rates of our peers. The US is experiencing a crisis of early death that is unique among wealthy nations."
The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to a sharp spike in mortality in the US—more so than in other countries—but the new findings show that the number of excess US deaths has been accelerating over the last four decades. Bor and colleagues analyzed trends in US deaths from 1933 to 2021, including the impact of COVID-19, and then compared these trends with age-specific mortality rates in Canada, Japan, Australia, and 18 European nations.
The US had lower mortality rates than peer countries during World War II and its aftermath. During the 1960's and 1970's, the US had mortality rates similar to other wealthy nations, but the number of Missing Americans began to increase year by year starting in the 1980's, reaching 622,534 annual excess U.S. deaths by 2019. Deaths then spiked to 1,009,467 in 2020 and 1,090,103 in 2021 during the pandemic. From 1980 to 2021, there were a total of 13.1 million Missing Americans.
[...] "We waste hundreds of billions each year on health insurers' profits and paperwork, while tens of millions can't afford medical care, healthy food, or a decent place to live," says study senior author Steffie Woolhandler, Distinguished Professor at the School of Urban Public Health at Hunter College, City University of New York. "Americans die younger than their counterparts elsewhere because when corporate profits conflict with health, our politicians side with the corporations."
[...] "The US was already experiencing more than 600,000 Missing Americans annually before the pandemic began, and that number was increasing each year. There have been no significant policy changes since then to change this trajectory," he says.
"While COVID-19 brought new attention to public health, the backlash unleashed during the pandemic has undermined trust in government and support for expansive policies to improve population health," said Bor. "This could be the most harmful long-term impact of the pandemic, because expansion of public policy to support health is exactly how our peer countries have attained higher life expectancy and better health outcomes."
Journal Reference:
Jacob Bor, Andrew C Stokes, Julia Raifman, et al., Missing Americans: Early death in the United States—1933–2021, PNAS Nexus, Volume 2, Issue 6, June 2023, pgad173, https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad173
(Score: 5, Insightful) by RedGreen on Friday November 17 2023, @03:46AM (15 children)
"but the new findings show that the number of excess US deaths has been accelerating over the last four decades."
You have the Repugnant Party assholes and their anti anything good or descent trying to subvert any progress in science and society for all that time. It is no wonder their wanting to murder their fellow citizens to cause chaos with that garbage they continually spread has had an effect. So sad if Americans actually wanted to live up to the words they claim to believe in it could be a good country. But both of the parties there are either totally spineless/useless like the Democrats or murdering bastards like the Repugnants.
"I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Friday November 17 2023, @01:17PM (3 children)
Yes, "Republicans are stupid barbarians and Democrats are wimps" is a narrative I've been hearing a lot lately. I very much hope that's almost all mainstream media exaggeration.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RedGreen on Friday November 17 2023, @02:30PM (2 children)
"Yes, "Republicans are stupid barbarians and Democrats are wimps" is a narrative I've been hearing a lot lately. I very much hope that's almost all mainstream media exaggeration."
The useless in the pockets of the parasite corporations media who are the, if not the cause, certainly an enabler as they do their both sides now bull shit. Their never saying a word against the murdering Repugnants or let alone calling them out for the outright traitors they are as they continue to subvert democracy and the constitution of the United States that should be done everyday 24/7 by them. For me it is not a narrative but a conclusion I have come to after all these years of watching it happen. Being here watching as the spineless Democrat bastards let the Repugnants get away with literally murdering their fellow citizens by their actions and doing next to nothing to fight back against it. It was not the media that lead me there but my own mind trying to figure out just why the hell they do nothing, finding an opinion may be possible in the media by I see very little of it from these supposed "news" organizations who doing nothing now but go for entertainment in their programs and writing it seems. The American people are in for some interesting times as the Chinese curse you with in that saying of theirs, the coming civil war after the next election cycle, especially if the Repugnants lose as they should is going to kill millions more than they already have.
I had thought as I watched America burn night after night on the TV as a child during the 60s, from actual NEWS programs that did that job, that the problems there were being solved by the politicians and the voters. But no they just went underground like the fascists did everywhere around the world at that time after being beaten back from WWII to slowly but surely build again for their next run at taking over the world and slaughtering countless millions once more. We can see the results everywhere again today in this world as they emerge spreading their garbage all over the place the killing has started again and is truly in place in so many countries. These fucking useless bastards we have elected that are supposedly for human rights let it go on for the most part unchallenged as they take their bribe money from the cocksucking billionaire owned corporations that support it all to look the other way and pay lip service to their supposed idea of freedom and democracy for all. The next few years look fairly bleak as they get to control more and more countries to push their murdering agenda to the next place they control. At least I am nearer the end than the beginning now and will not have to live through much more of it, just get through a few more years before nature has it say then it will be done with none of this to think about anymore.
"I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
(Score: 4, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Saturday November 18 2023, @03:17AM (1 child)
The two biggest problems of current times are, I believe, Global Warming and authoritarianism. Global Warming would be positively easy to deal with if not for the other problem.
So long as they remain in the minority, albeit an uncomfortably large one, it is possible to handle authoritarians. They can be enjoined to behave themselves and even better themselves. They do have a herd following instinct, and they will behave when they see everyone around them behaving. Demagogues can be kept powerless.
But on those things, we've been falling down. Authoritarians are way too forgiving (and even loving!) of criminal behavior as long as the criminal can keep up the demagoguery. It is of utmost importance that especially for the highest, crime not pay. Instead, we have several things in an unholy alliance to excuse all kinds of crime. One of these is the media always dramatizing things. Doubtless, TV ratings on Jan 6, 2021 were through the roof. Another is the evangelical and fundamentalist religious organizations preaching such things as that Prosperity Gospel trash. Then there are the rich and other elitist fools who, wrongly uplifted by Prosperity Gospel thinking, think they're superior to everyone else and have the gall to manipulate authoritarians in the worst ways, to maintain their own privileged status.
From what I read, authoritarians number about 20% of the population, and an additional 20% can be fearmongered into behaving like authoritarians. Being "scared stupid" is a thing. Whether those percentages are steady, I don't know. Maybe if we play a long game to lower those percentages, our descendants can finally have nice things. I fear we don't have time for that. Global Warming is slow, but not that slow. Global Warming getting a lot worse will make today's mortality figures look like a lost Golden Age. I'm thinking the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets collapsed, causing sea levels to rise 65m higher than present. That's enough to drown most of Florida and many other low lying places around the world. That will cause the refugee crisis to end all refugee crises. Add in a bunch of famine, and that could be enough to break the restraint that has so far been exercised around nuclear weapons. Then, the collapse of civilization might be the least of the disasters. We might extinct ourselves. Worst case, we kill off everything. Let's hope the authoritarians never have the power to drive us all into that. They would too, all the way screaming that it's all a lie, someone else's fault, and God's will and the End Times.
(Score: 2) by RedGreen on Saturday November 18 2023, @05:48AM
" We might extinct ourselves. Worst case, we kill off everything."
First is highly probable, second nearly impossible even massive asteroids slamming into the earth have not managed that. There is always some forms of life that mange to make it through those mass extinction events in our past only for life to bounce back and thrive until the next one, which we are well overdue for...
"I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday November 17 2023, @01:55PM (9 children)
The Repugnant party is all about descent. Family values, ethics, common human decency, all in steep descent under Repugnant rule. Thus the dissent from the decent party.
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by RedGreen on Friday November 17 2023, @03:02PM (8 children)
"The Repugnant party is all about descent. Family values, ethics, common human decency, all in steep descent under Repugnant rule. Thus the dissent from the decent party."
Ah the old never argue with a moron theory as they will drag you down to their level and win by experience. Never thought of it that way as that is not the way my mind works. I tend to go with having principals, ethics, common human decency and things like this are what define you as a person and are to be stood by and fought for. Not what so many of these slimy bastards among us do with them being on a flexible payment plan from those with massive piles of cash who are in control and feeding the cash out to make all of it happen so their pile can get even bigger. While making sure they dish out as much cruelty as possible to keep them serfs in line so they do not have to do it all over again. Once the meek have risen up and slaughtered most of them for a change, for the much to few times that has happened in history. Which as time has gone on and seeing more of this fucking shit, every day, everywhere, I am totally in favor of now. They kill us well past time for self defense strike on them.
"I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
(Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Friday November 17 2023, @06:57PM (3 children)
> feeding the cash out to make all of it happen so their pile can get even bigger.
I believe this is the entire basis of our current(ly broadly enacted) economic theories: incentivize the rich to share by making them richer.
When I was VP of a small publicly traded company we had a parade of potential investors who were willing to pump tens of millions into our company on the idea that if they got a 2:1 or better return on their "investment" they would then leave a few crumbs behind for us to operate the company on on their way out the door, no time horizon ever greater than 2 years, usually closer to 6 months. They assumed risk of loss of their initial investment, but the company assumed risk of them not clearing whatever crazy ROI target they had set, and after they achieved that ROI they continued to reap 90% of any remaining profits over target... The usual "proposed most likely timeline" looked like:
Oh, and while this is all going on, the investors are holding a controlling interest in the company via various mechanisms.
If you're ever "in the business" and you hear the term "reverse shell merger" - that's usually a sign of this kind of Shenanigans.
They came from oil money, they came from inherited money, they came from crazy exploding small business dumps millions on them money (this was pre- .com days, now they mostly come from that). Didn't matter where their money came from, they were all looking for the same thing: more of it, by whatever barely legal means they can get it.
We also had "good people" investors, some hippie trust fund babies then up in their 50s and 60s (dad was dead and mom nearly so, so the controls on their allowances were getting relaxed), some "angels" who made a good pile on something else looking to do something good in the world - they tended to cap out around $100K available to invest in us, we had one British Lord who was looking to reshape his prisoner tracking device (ankle bracelet) company into something more fun to discuss at parties like medical monitoring... once they learned what he was up to he was body-slammed by the majority of his board who informed him "we are in the business of making the most money possible, not making our investors feel good about their investments."
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by RedGreen on Friday November 17 2023, @08:49PM (1 child)
"I believe this is the entire basis of our current(ly broadly enacted) economic theories: incentivize the rich to share by making them richer."
That and the trickle down effect lie they like to go on about in conjunction with it, just like happens with piss down your leg when you wet yourself. Aerosmith had it right in that song "Eat the Rich" though the hypocrites had already gone through millions up their noses by that time so were the rich they were bitchin about in it.
"I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday November 17 2023, @10:30PM
Like Rush singing "they call me the workin' man" - not exactly. If you get a chance to watch Bruce Springsteen on Broadway, he's got good writers for his material... a lot about "I never did any of the things I sing about."
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by mcgrew on Saturday November 18 2023, @05:06PM
I believe this is the entire basis of our current(ly broadly enacted) economic theories:
You say that as if economics were a real science. It isn't. See: Trickle down theory; wealth doesn't trickle down, it flows upwards, from the factory floor to the dragon's pile of gold.
Or their statement that raising the minimum wage causes inflation, when inflation had NEVER gone up from raising the minimum wage. Big example, in 1965 the minimum wage got a 50% boost from $1.00 to $1.50, biggest minimum wage hike in history, but we didn't have inflation until 1974 when the Arab Oil Embargo hits.
Inflation is caused by the greedy selfish rich raising prices at any excuse they get that they can get away with, something like an oil producing nation like Russia at war, or a pandemic. In 1974 the Arabs didn't even bother with an excuse and gave a big one to all the other evil rich bastards.
Oh, that $1.50 minimum wage bought 10 McDonald's hamburgers. Those exact same burgers are now $24.90. To beat inflation, raise the minimum wage to $24.90 and tie it to inflation like my Social Security check is, but government and the rich LOVE inflation. The rich love it because it makes them richer (the "away" that value goes is away to the rich) and government loves it because it raises the working person's taxes without legislators writing a law to do so.
It is a disgrace that the richest nation in the world has hunger and homelessness.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday November 18 2023, @04:53PM (3 children)
I tend to go with having principals
I haven't had a principal since high school. Did you mean "principle"?
But hopefully I'll be dead when the crash you refer to comes. Robert Reich points out in his book Saving Capitalism that every time the gap between rich and poor become too great, we have a depression, and the book Only Yesterday [mcgrewbooks.com] about the 1020s, written in 1933, looks like the 2020s are too similar to the decade a century earlier.
I'll bet you didn't know that the flappers wore tattoos! That's not in Allen's book, my Dad told me that his aunts were tattooed flappers in the 1920s. I fear another Great Depression in the middle of the next Republican presidental administration; republicans are great at campaigning but suck at legislating. Grandma told me the Hoover Dam got its name because people were sick of hearing "Damned Hoover!"
It is a disgrace that the richest nation in the world has hunger and homelessness.
(Score: 2) by RedGreen on Saturday November 18 2023, @05:56PM (2 children)
"I haven't had a principal since high school. Did you mean "principle"?
But hopefully I'll be dead when the crash you refer to comes. "
Yeah a typo, who knows when it will be but it comes eventually. They have delayed it a couple of times so far but the debt accumulated from it will have to be paid eventually one way or the other. Either with massive crash to eliminate the burden through default or raising taxes and actually pay for what you have spent, a radical concept so many have seem to have lost sight of.
"I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday November 22 2023, @12:16AM (1 child)
In Frederic Lewis Allen's Only Yesterday [mcgrewbooks.com] it certainly looks like that, but my Grandma McGrew, who was seventeen in 1920, said the roaring twenties only roared for the rich.
But it wasn't the government that was too indebted, or consumers, it was investors. Read the book, it was a textbook for a 101 level college history class.
But Robert Reich, in his book Saving Capitalism points out that before every crash, there was a large poor to rich ratio. We are headed for a crash because billionaires shouldn't exist.
In the Allen book, almost every italicized word is a link to the book, film, or song it names.
It is a disgrace that the richest nation in the world has hunger and homelessness.
(Score: 2) by RedGreen on Wednesday November 22 2023, @04:09AM
"But it wasn't the government that was too indebted, or consumers, it was investors."
Christ lucky I was not taking a drink when reading that laughable description, the speculators got burnt when the bubble burst. Just like they always do this lie about "investors" is such a joke, I have heard it told for decades every time it happens, read about in history books going back for centuries. People are greedy fucks who jump on the latest shinny speculations all the time, just look at the current AI bubble or the shitcoin from a few years ago. They are always popping up for the new suckers to get roped in, old PT was right there is one born every minute, I would think he vastly under estimated it.
"I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday November 18 2023, @04:42PM
anti anything good or descent
"Decent" and "Descent" have completely different meanings. Dew knot truss yore spill checker! Since "descent" means "went down" you said exactly the opposite of what you intended to say.
Spelling matters and spilling mutters.
It is a disgrace that the richest nation in the world has hunger and homelessness.