Some wealthy Europeans have death rates 35 percent lower than the richest Americans.
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Wealthy Americans have death rates on par with poor Europeans
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I could make a snarky comment about thinking of a couple of very wealthy Americans I'm hoping that holds true for.
But I'm above that.
But I'm above that.
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I'm sure that RFK Jr. and his crackerjack team at HHS will fix this immediately!
/s
/s
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Quartiles seems insufficiently granular to handle the US level of wealth inequality. The top 25% of Americans includes a lot of white collar professionals like tech employees. A more interesting scheme may be percentiles: how do the American top/bottom 1% or 0.1% compare to their European equivalents?
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They might by blind chance banning any of the terrible additives in our food that make people look like
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My unsupported wild ass guess is Americans obsession with "hard work" and "pull yourself up by the boot straps" and "to get ahead you need to keep working even after your paid hours".
There are (again totally unsupported) much better work/life balance in those countries, when work hours are done people relax, socialize, enjoy. IN the US people are getting paged, pinged, messaged, expected to respond after-hours, assuming they even left/stopped working on time.
Edit for bad spell'n
There are (again totally unsupported) much better work/life balance in those countries, when work hours are done people relax, socialize, enjoy. IN the US people are getting paged, pinged, messaged, expected to respond after-hours, assuming they even left/stopped working on time.
Edit for bad spell'n
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I suspect we have some good ideas on how to improve this situation. Of course, we won’t implement a single one of them.
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In my professional work experience, across all levels of European society, life is much more laid back, stress levels are lower, and government benefits (health care, child care, post-secondary education, public transit*, mandatory holidays, etc.) all contribute to that lower stress environment with a substantially greater work/life balance.
But, that'd never happen in the USA, as it would be "gubmint messing with our freedums," and we can't have that--we'd rather be dead than let the gubmint make us healthier and happier.
Oh, and even the worst food there makes what the best food Americans eat seem like animal rations in comparison.
* Thanks, Poochyena! A GIANT difference!
But, that'd never happen in the USA, as it would be "gubmint messing with our freedums," and we can't have that--we'd rather be dead than let the gubmint make us healthier and happier.
Oh, and even the worst food there makes what the best food Americans eat seem like animal rations in comparison.
* Thanks, Poochyena! A GIANT difference!
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Total guesses from ny experiences - Stress, work, shitty healthcare outcome even for high-end (expensive) care. Physical activity into late seniority (walking everywhere) and deep community networks (social activity, quick to notice declines or provide support).
Plus, Europeans don’t stuff as many of their elderly into warehouses at the end of their lives with the same frequency. It’s easy to find much much older folks living good, active lives in older cities where walking is easier, cars aren't a necessity, there’s tons of socialization for the elderly. It’s just easier to be old in small walkable communities. We do replicate that somewhat in our retirement facilities in the us, but the quality of life is all over the place and often horrific, since it all has to make profit for the private equity groups that bought all our social infrastructure.
Plus, Europeans don’t stuff as many of their elderly into warehouses at the end of their lives with the same frequency. It’s easy to find much much older folks living good, active lives in older cities where walking is easier, cars aren't a necessity, there’s tons of socialization for the elderly. It’s just easier to be old in small walkable communities. We do replicate that somewhat in our retirement facilities in the us, but the quality of life is all over the place and often horrific, since it all has to make profit for the private equity groups that bought all our social infrastructure.
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Aw, c'mon, don't be so pessimistic! We're all far more likely to die of bird flu before polio.
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Australia also sits very high on the life expectancy charts (some sources place us at eighth highest), but we have other major issues around inequality in this area (thanks colonialism). The gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous life expectancy is still huge, and while there are resources being thrown at it the difference is still very much there. And yet still the average is higher than the US despite the horrific car-dependency and often poor diet.
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I wonder how much is due to the higher rate of road traffic fatalities (of all kinds)? Being rich can only buy you so much protection from being T-boned by a clapped-out pickup running a red light because the driver is late for their third job (well, until you get to "helicopter to the office" territory)
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"Wealthy Americans have death rates on par with poor Europeans"
Given where this administration is going, this parity might only be temporary...
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they still live longer than us poorer Americans. Maybe we should eat them instead
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I would say guns are the answer, but aren't gun deaths overwhelmingly inversely proportional to wealth?
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they did quartiles, as someone noted above, so if the relationship has maybe a hockeystick pattern or other nonlinearity it would not have been seen in this study
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And yet fortune writes today
“LinkedIn's cofounder Reid Hoffman says seeking work-life balance is a red flag that you're 'not committed to winning’”
You can’t win if you are dead.
“LinkedIn's cofounder Reid Hoffman says seeking work-life balance is a red flag that you're 'not committed to winning’”
You can’t win if you are dead.
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Does anyone know if there have been studies looking at more than just life expectancy in this manner, such as quality of life expectancy? I'm thinking things like general mobility, independent living, drug dependence, etc.
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There's a reason conservatives love guns, and it isn't because they actually love guns. Gun deaths disproportionately target minorities and the poor. Multiple minority groups or minority and poor further increases likelihood of gun death. The reason recent events were so notable despite being just one of thousands of recent gun killings is that a rich old white dude died, which is exceedingly rare. Like everything, they like things that hurt others and not them.
The best way to get guns banned at a federal level would be a drive to put guns in the hands of every trans woman, black child, and college student.
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ColdWetDog
Ars Legatus Legionis
Or just our incredibly bad stats for automobile related deaths or, a perennial US favorite, gun deaths.
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J.C. Helios
Ars Scholae Palatinae
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It's still going to be worse.
In most EU countries, health care is a basic human right. In the US it's a for-profit business. That that latter is the issue.
Even for the wealthy, profit comes first. When you put profits over people, people suffer and die. This is why we have the lowest rates of survival among the poor.
There's no mystery why it happens. The biggest mystery is why we don't force the government to nationalize ALL health care, including dental and vision.
For profit health care is killing EVERYONE in the US all for the profit of a few. And even those few suffer (not as much as the poor) because of the institutional nature of for-profit health care.
I know that won't stop in the near future, but nationalizing our health care system and making health a basic human right is the only thing that will change these numbers. That's literally the only difference between health care services in the US and the EU.
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“if you think American wealth will put life expectancy in league with Switzerland, you're >dead < wrong”
Thanks, Beth!
Thanks, Beth!
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My guess: a lot of the difference boils down to obesity, guns and car accidents. Americans drive more miles than Europeans, and I vaguely recall Americans have more fatal accidents per mile driven. Guns...well...are guns. As for Obesity, Europe is actually catching up. Eastern Europe is starting to look like the American South. Should be interesting to see how that affects things over the next decade. Lack of access to care probably dogs the lower 2-3 quartiles in the US. All the antivax and anti-intellectualism of recent years probably rounds it out.
In short, it's probably the stuff that people actually get diagnosed for and we already know will kill you, but America (or at least parts of it) won't change for various reasons.
The idea that anything is going to be nationalized is pants-on-head insane. Not going to happen. Voters literally just elected a man who campaigned on dismantling the state and he's busy doing that. In fact, he's trying to scrap federal health research altogether.
In short, it's probably the stuff that people actually get diagnosed for and we already know will kill you, but America (or at least parts of it) won't change for various reasons.
That's no mystery either. It's because the last time anyone structurally reformed US health (and modestly at that) the voters destroyed the party that passed it in the next election. The next decade was pissed away on attempts to chip away at the ACA.
The idea that anything is going to be nationalized is pants-on-head insane. Not going to happen. Voters literally just elected a man who campaigned on dismantling the state and he's busy doing that. In fact, he's trying to scrap federal health research altogether.
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I doubt it. Gun ownership is associated with a much higher suicide risk.
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We all know that the US will never, ever have a national healthcare system, because of The Golden Rule: He who has the gold makes the rules. As long as politicians require huge bribes...um, I mean "campaign donations", billionaires and corporations will make sure that our rickety, crappy health system will continue to chug along, inefficient, expensive, and difficult to access for many.
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The shining beacon on the hill did indeed shine brighter than any other. It's secret? It burned pure human life.
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Who cares what the guy who runs MySpace for suits thinks? Committed to winning? Winning what? He’s not some titan of industry. He sells ads.
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The Swiss are armed to the teeth. It’s not the gun ownership, it is the firing of the guns.
Also, traffic. If you won’t drive in the US because you are afraid of being pulled over and shot by police, you should read accident statistics.
The Swiss even eat copious amounts of cheese, and have a private health care system much like the US.
Also, traffic. If you won’t drive in the US because you are afraid of being pulled over and shot by police, you should read accident statistics.
The Swiss even eat copious amounts of cheese, and have a private health care system much like the US.
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Bad idea, as fat holds onto a lot of toxins. Given the huge number of preservatives and other added chemicals in the Standard American Diet, rich Americans would be an unhealthy addition to anyone's diet!
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