Life Expectancy Dropping
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Happy Thursday Advocates
I would like to encourage comments and suggestions from you if you have time. If there is a special topic you’d like to see please let me know. Please use the comment button below. By the way lots of deep breaths help. So do cute pictures. P.S. If it’s not teddy bears it will have to be kittens and puppies to reduce the stress level.
Life Expectancy
We have written about life expectancy in the US previously but it is worth opening that box again. What affects life expectancy is complicated. The data reveals a number of problems. We will discuss some of them here.
It is worth noting that different locations have different life expectancies. Urban areas often do better than rural, wealthier areas often better than poorer.
The Washington Post did a year long study on life expectancy and found that chronic diseases are killing people under 65 far more than gun violence, opioids and suicides combined.
Today, the divide in life expectancy between the nation’s poorest and wealthiest communities is dramatically wider than it was in the 1980s. But that finding masks another sobering reality: People in wealthy communities in the United States live shorter lives than their peers in Canada, France and Japan. The same is true for people in the poorest communities. So overall the US has a problem.
Politics Plays a Role - Republican States Fare Worse
Decisions made years ago by elected officials are complicit in the nation’s life expectancy crisis. When Regan was president states were given more authority over how to spend federal safety net dollars. The way states used those funds were different between Democratic and Republican controlled states. The red states did not invest in public health initiatives they said cost too much or overstepped. Today, people in the South and Midwest, regions largely controlled by Republican state legislators, have increasingly higher chances of dying prematurely compared with those in the more Democratic Northeast and West. Cigarette taxes, seat belt laws, public health spending: Policies on those and other issues help determine rates of chronic illnesses such as lung cancer.
Ohio, a Republican state, is a good example. They are in bottom 20% of life expectancy of all states. Similar to Slovakia and Ecuador. 20% of all people in Ohio will die before 65. One Republican legislator commented that he did not want to be a Smoking Nazi, raising tobacco taxes and telling people what to do.
Part of the legislative problem is that making policy choices that benefit public health, involves making legislative choices that do not have visible results right away. Legislators will be long gone when the results of longer lives lived become reality. Additionally, by pandering to the fear of the “other”, fear of government, and distrust of science and experts, and not implementing policies that can keep people healthy, you are willing to let them choose long term grief over short term pleasure.
Lifestyle Matters
Of course, we know how smoking can seriously shorten life span. But diet plays a part too. In the last 50 years the average weight of Americans has increased substantially. Men now average about 200 lbs. Excess weight tends to lead the way to other chronic conditions that can be tragic, diabetes, fatty liver, cardia issues etc. Some experts have identified the rise in the availability of heavily processed foods as a cause. High salt content, lots of sugar, high calories, cheap and readily available. Not a good combination.
The Focus of Healthcare
Here is an opinion piece by the editorial staff of The Washington Post. They captured an interesting idea. The healthcare system is really a sickness system. It provides incentives for managing sickness, not health. The challenge is that building a healthier population doesn’t pay as well as treating a sick one does. Pharmaceutical companies profit when they create drugs that treat disease, rather than the drivers of it. The more patients a private medical facility sees, the more money it makes. The article notes that more people have health insurance but we are dying sooner so they claim insurance isn’t an issue. There they are wrong. It has been demonstrated by a Rand Corporation Experiment, that when deductibles/copays rise, people use the insurance less. So having is not the same as using it.
Summary
People are dying from chronic conditions earlier than ever and in more numbers than guns and opioids and suicides combined. We have a sicker population that lives shorter and shorter lives. Turning this around has many facets.
Everyone needs to be able to see a doctor for wellness care and when they are sick with no copay/deductible so they will go to the doctor.
We will need to address the social determinants of health. This includes making sure that there are healthcare facilities nearby (not hours away) and that we can get there. That might involve childcare, time off from work, etc.
Prescriptions will need to be affordable (PS that RSV vaccine you hear about is $300.00 without Medicare Part D).
Our legislators need to include public health legislation that matters. It isn’t the nanny state to raise taxes on cigarettes. There are studies that show that for every nickel more a pack costs a significant number of children don’t start smoking. Keep in mind that those problems don’t show up for decades.
HR 3421, the improved Medicare for All Act, Universal Healthcare, fixes some of the issues not all. It provides a way improve and expand the number of centers that provide healthcare into rural and medical deserts as well as eliminating deductibles and copays. S. 2840, the Bipartisan Primary Care and Health Workforce Act, will bring more physicians and nurses into the system and increase the capabilities of community health centers. Those centers are run by 1400 separate agencies and provide care for 30 million of us.
ACTION
Let’s let our Representatives and Senators know what we learned and what they can do.
Use RESISTBOT to send the email below to them by texting SIGN PQIQVC to 50409 or you can call/email them. Their contact info is in the resources section below.
“I am your constituent and I just learned that the US has a declining life expectancy problem. Rich or poor it is far worse than our peer industrialized nations. Chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes are killing our middle age population in far greater numbers than guns and opioids and suicides.
Making sure we can focus on health before we become sick is a good start. I want you to make healthcare with preventive care available to all of us with no deductibles or copays that limit our use of insurance, HR 3421, does that. I want you to expand the number of medical facilities in rural America and in other medical deserts, HR 3421 does that. I want you to expand the number of doctors (2000) and nurses (60,000) and increase the capabilities of community health centers, S 2840 does that.
Let’s summarize. I want you to cosponsor and pass HR 3421 the much improved Medicare for All Act and S. 2840 the Bipartisan Primary Care and Health Workforce Act so we can get a start at increasing our life expectancy again. Thank you.”
RESOURCES
Healthcare Advocacy (Us)
Website
Our Newsletter resources including reproductive healthcare
Healthcare Advocacy Reading List
Find My Elected Officials
Contact the White House https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Contact State and Federal Representatives
By phone: (202) 224-3121
By email: democracy.io
Important Healthcare Resources
League of Women Voters Healthcare Reform Toolkit
Organizations to Contact
National Nurses United Medicare4All
Physicians for a National Health Plan
Reproductive Health
NARAL - Pro Choice America
Charley. NARAL’s abortion resource
Planned Parenthood
Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline has references about where to procure abortion medications. They also assist women in the process of self managed abortion or miscarriage by phone or text and will respond in an hour. Details and hours of operation at their website.
United State of Women Reproductive health page (bottom of the page) has important resources such as medical support, access to Telehealth, prescriptions by mail, and legal support references.
Practice careful communications - The Digital Defense Fund has a number of tips to keep texts, calls, and internet use private. Here is their site.
If you need financial help with an abortion try abortionfunds.org
Oh, got it on the third try. Of course. Medicare for all from Pamela Jayapal.
Our good neighbors to the north.
Also, I can’t find it on the government website. Can you tell me what are the common mistakes one make when looking for legislation?
I know the Oregon OLIS somewhat. But have no experience searching the US congress web site.