I ran across these two charts recently and couldn’t help but scratch my head at what is going on in this country.
This first chart shows healthcare spending. It’s been steadily growing +5.8%/year on average over the last 20+ years. That’s a whopping 2.4x the rate of overall inflation.
The steady growth in healthcare spending stands at odds with political promises that came with the American Care Act.
We were told, “the only thing that will change for you under this plan is the amount of money you will spend on premiums. That will be less.” The ACA took effect in March 2010, which is practically un-noticeable on the chart.
As bad as the last chart looks, this next chart is even more sobering. Even if you believe Americans are paying a lot – but still getting the best healthcare in the world – it’s not showing in the numbers. Life expectancy in the USA has dropped precipitously.
I’m not sure exactly how they measure life expectancy. Is it the current average age of mortality, or how long a newborn in 2023 is expected to live? Regardless, I’m sure it is calculated the same way for all of these countries. The US looks terrible!
I am not going to go on a Monday morning tirade pushing some new healthcare proposal. All I know is that these two charts show that there are some things that are completely broken and it probably starts with our own behavior.
I once heard George Will say that there are 5 simple things that every American can do to immediately solve most of the healthcare problems in this country: eat less, eat better, move more, avoid drugs, and don’t be promiscuous. They are all free, voluntary, well-understood, and require no government programs. Makes sense.
I’m going to go for a walk now … !
Image Credit: Pixabay
MrFireStation 
The passage of the Affordable Care Act, was the biggest increase I ever saw in health insurance. Prior to ACA, I could get health insurance where you were rated, just like life insurance. If you took care of yourself, then you could get cheaper insurance.
The misnamed ACA was all about ‘normalizing’ health insurance rates, so that those with healthy lifestyles are subsidizing the obese, chain-smoking, and drug addicted. In the People’s Republic of California, gender reassign is treated as necessary medical care, at least for Medi-CAL and Prison populations. Someone has to pay for the estimated $1 Million over a lifetime cost per transitioner. I suggest you comparison shop a healthcare ministry, such as Solidarity for Catholics, where you don’t have to subsidize imprudent lifestyle choices. You will be shocked at the cost difference.
The US has around 5% of the world’s population, yet pays 55% of the world’s prescription cost. This is caused by rent seekers in Big Pharma and Health Insurers, who are the largest contributors AKA bribers of Congress, which passes laws that favors them.
George Will was spot on that most of your health is determined by your lifestyle choices. There is a current Netflix series about areas of the world that follow a healthy way of life called “The Blue Zones.” Bemidji, MN, up by you, is an example of a community that is embracing “Blue Zone” concepts to improve their health.
As a parting comment, Fentanyl is the leading cause of deaths for Americans between the ages of 18 to 49. This alone has reduced US life expectancy by two years. China provides the chemical precursors, and the Mexican cartels complete the manufacture and distribution of this killer. China has been using bio and chemical warfare against the US.
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Yes – I’ve looked into the ‘health ministry’ programs before. I’m actually covered under my MegaCorp retiree benefits, so we do pretty well on insurance cost.
I’ve seen the Bemidji / Blue Zone thing. Unfortunately, Bemidji is in the news right now for a horrific crime. Only Google if you have a strong stomach.
I’m pretty sure the USA life expectancy trend has a lot to do with Fentanyl. I’m not sure anyone can put that genie back in the bottle. Stay away from drugs, kids!
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I looked up the Bemidji story and it was horrible. Both what happened there and Fentanyl are the result of an open border.
The USA should not give unfettered access to our markets with countries that have an asymmetric trading relationship with the USA. We need to place severe economic sanctions on China until they stop exporting the Fentanyl precursors to the Mexican cartels. A part of symmetric trading relationship would also not entail stealing our intellectual property. The CCP could shut this down once they figure it is in their best interest.
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People are lazy, won’t exercise and can’t control themselves from eating terribly unhealthy food.
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Sometimes I’m surprised people make any good decisions! Diet, exercise, drugs, gambling, debt, overspending, smoking, infidelity. It seems everyone has a Vice that can get out of hand. I could eat better myself!
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You would be interested with The Blue Zones playing on Netflix now. The Blue Zones are previously five, and now six areas (since Singapore was recently added) where people are most likely to live to be over 100 YO. The diet and exercise are built into the Blue Zone’s lifestyle. Lots of fruits and vegetables grown locally in their garden. Probably not much access to junk food and less meat, or the money to buy it. Walking, gardening, and jobs such as being a shepherd have exercise built into it. The real outlier is Loma Linda, CA which is mostly vegetarian and has a sense of community in the predominantly Seven Day Adventist Denomination, which also tends to moderate self-destructive behavior.
The organization is trying to replicate what makes the Blue Zone communities to the USA.
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I’ve heard a bit about it from my food industry days. When we were just in Italy, they were playing it up a lot. I’ll check the Netflix series out!
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The little town in Italy you described with its Pausa Pronzo has a community where people visit with each other during an extended lunch hour. I bet that town is close.
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Yes – all of the restaurants & cafes stayed open over lunch and we saw people we knew had been working in the shops eating outside in groups.
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