An Unexpected Post

The lies are surprising but not unexpected.

"Violence, poor health cut US life expectancy" by Kevin Freking  |  Associated Press, January 10, 2013

WASHINGTON — The United States suffers far more violent deaths than any other wealthy nation, due in part to the widespread possession of firearms and the practice of storing them at home in a place that is often unlocked, according to a report released Wednesday by two of the nation’s leading health research institutions.

Gun violence is just one of many factors contributing to lower US life expectancy, but the report took on urgency because it comes less than a month after the shooting deaths of 26 people at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn....

Translation: An agenda is being pushed. I would also ask you to remember the LOWER LIFE EXPECTANCY PART for later.

For many years, Americans have been dying at younger ages than people in almost all other wealthy countries.

Only certain people have the wealth here.

In addition to the impact of gun violence, Americans consume the most calories among peer countries and get involved in more accidents that involve alcohol. They also suffer higher rates of drug-related deaths, infant mortality, and AIDS....

Translation: we're a mess!

The nation’s health disadvantages have economic consequences. They lead to higher costs for consumers and taxpayers as well as a workforce that remains less healthy....

‘‘With lives and dollars at stake, the United States cannot afford to ignore this problem,’’ said the report from the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine.

In attempting to explain why Americans are so unhealthy, the researchers looked at three categories: the nation’s health care system, harmful behaviors, and social and economic conditions. Researchers noted that the country has a large uninsured population compared to other countries with comparable economies and more limited access to primary care. And although the income of Americans is higher on average than that of other wealthy countries, the United States also has a higher level of poverty, especially among children.

Researchers said American culture probably plays an important role in the lower life expectancy rates.

Again with the lower life expectancy.

‘‘We have a culture in our country that, among many Americans, cherishes personal autonomy and wants to limit intrusion of government and other entities on our personal lives and also wants to encourage free enterprise and the success of business and industry. Some of those forces may act against the ability to achieve optimal health outcomes,’’ said Dr. Steven H. Woolf of Virginia Commonwealth University, who served as chairman for the study panel.

The National Rifle Association did not immediately return calls seeking comment about the report, but in the past gun-rights advocates have fought any suggestion that firearms ownership has public health implications, and they have won cuts in the government’s budget for such research.

The researchers reviewed an array of studies over the years. They estimated that homicide and suicide together account for about a quarter of the years of life lost for US men compared to those in peer countries. Homicide, they noted, is the second-leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults aged 15-24. The large majority of those homicides involve firearms.

The researchers said there is little evidence that violent acts occur more frequently in the United States than elsewhere. It’s the lethality of those attacks that stands out.

‘‘One behavior that probably explains the excess lethality of violence and unintentional injuries in the United States is the widespread possession of firearms,’’ the report said.

It IS an agenda-pushing piece of crap.

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And about that life expectancy:

"People are living longer but with more disability" by Deborah Kotz  |  Globe Staff, December 13, 2012

Life expectancy is increasing among the world’s population, including in the United States, but people are living longer in chronic pain and with physical and mental disabilities, according to findings from the giant Global Burden of Disease study, published Thursday in the journal Lancet.

The AmeriKan ma$$ media is going to be the death of me.

Seven separate reports conducted by researchers at the University of Washington, the Harvard School of Public Health, and elsewhere gauged people’s health in 187 countries and determined that developing countries are looking more like richer Westernized countries in terms of the health problems that pose the biggest burden: high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease....

Study funding came from the non-profit Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Toss it in the trash then.

Much of the increase in life expectancy can be attributed to better medical treatments that prolong the lives of cancer and heart disease patients, better control of infectious diseases such as measles, and efforts to improve pediatric health and nutrition. Deaths among children under five years of age declined by nearly 60 percent over the past four decades, with almost 10 million fewer babies and preschoolers dying every year....

Is it going down or up, dammit!?

“For individuals, this is mostly good news,” said Joshua Salomon, a professor of global health at Harvard School of Public Health who co-authored four of the studies. “We can expect to live longer, but we also need to expect that we’ll be living longer with disabilities and we have to plan for added health care costs.”

Living longer with the quality of life dropping. That's AmeriKa all over in the early 21st century.

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In another intriguing finding, researchers found striking similarities in how people from various countries -- the United States, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Peru, and Tanzania -- perceived the level of disability caused by a wide range of health conditions, with mental and physical health conditions such as schizophrenia, multiple sclerosis, and severe depression ranking highest in terms of their negative impact on a person’s health. Conditions such as hearing loss, vision loss, and infertility were considered among the least disabling.

“We were surprised by finding so few differences,” said Salomon, who led the study, “since there’s a pretty popular hypothesis that people attach different weights to various health outcomes depending on their culture, wealth, and occupations, which doesn’t seem to be the case.”

I'm not surprised at all!! I've been writing here for years that PEOPLE are the SAME the WORLD OVER, and we ALL WANT the SAME THINGS despite the DIFFERING STANDARD of LIVING!  It's the money junkies and elite at the top that have ruined everything for all of us!

Countries also share common risk factors that contribute to their overall health costs and extent of disease in their populations. From Europe to South America to the Middle East, high blood pressure, excess body fat, a lack of fruits and vegetables in the diet, and smoking all came out on top as the biggest risks leading to poor health -- ahead of air pollution, lead exposure, and drug use.

That follows the same pattern as in the United States, where soaring obesity rates have led to a spike in type 2 diabetes, which often leads to heart disease. New American Heart Association data also published this week noted that the United States spends $313 billion every year to treat heart disease and strokes, compared with $228 billion for cancer treatments.

“Yes, people are living longer with heart disease, but we need to make sure we prolong their years of being free of illness,” said epidemiologist Donna Arnett, president of the American Heart Association. “That involves individuals taking matters into their own hands by maintaining a healthy weight, being physically active, avoiding smoking, and following a good diet.”

I'm already heartbroken.

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And another un$urpri$ing find:

"Research links economic status and life expectancy; 2 Fla. counties show inequities" by Michael A. Fletcher  |  Washington Post, March 24, 2013

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — This prosperous community is the picture of the good and ever longer life — just what policy makers have in mind when they say that raising the eligibility age for Social Security and Medicare is a fair way to rein in the nation’s troublesome debt.

The county’s plentiful and well-tended golf courses teem with youthful-looking retirees. The same is true on the county’s 41 miles of Atlantic Ocean beaches, abundant tennis courts, and extensive network of biking and hiking trails.

The healthy lifestyles pay off....

But....

The widening gap in life expectancy between these two adjacent Florida counties reflects perhaps the starkest outcome of the nation’s growing economic inequality: a growing body of research shows that those gains are going mostly to those at the upper end of the income ladder.

So we have a wealth gap and a life gap. Great.

The tightening economic connection to longevity has profound implications for the simmering debate about trimming the nation’s entitlement programs. Citing rising life expectancy, influential voices including the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction commission, the Business Roundtable, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have argued that it makes sense to raise the eligibility age for Social Security and Medicare.

But raising the eligibility ages — currently 65 for Medicare and moving toward 67 for full Social Security benefits — would mean fewer benefits for lower-income workers, who typically die younger than those who make more.

‘‘People who are shorter-lived tend to make less, which means that if you raise the retirement age, low-income populations would be subsidizing the lives of higher-income people,’’ said Maya Rockeymoore, president and chief executive of Global Policy Solutions, a public policy consultancy.

‘‘Whenever I hear a policy maker say people are living longer as a justification for raising the retirement age, I immediately think they don’t understand the research or, worse, they are willfully ignoring what the data say,’’ she said....

‘‘Life expectancy has increased mainly among the privileged class,’’ said Monique Morrissey, an economist who focuses on retirement issues at the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal-leaning research organization. ‘‘For many people, raising the retirement age would amount to a significant benefit cut.’’

Thanks for clearing all that up for me. 

Advocates of raising the retirement age say only a relative handful of older workers would be harmed and that the vulnerable could be protected by enacting hardship exemptions. Meanwhile, they say, with a wave of baby boomers moving toward retirement and health-care costs always on the rise, the retirement programs are sustainable only if people are willing to pay higher taxes or accept fewer benefits....

And thus Obama throws the chained CPI on you!

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