A group of middle-aged whites in the U.S. is dying at a startling rate

[BenDan]

Saw a guy talking about this on Zakaria GPS (CNN) so I googled it - scary stuff

The mortality rate for white men and women ages 45-54 with less than a college education increased markedly between 1999 and 2013, most likely because of problems with legal and illegal drugs, alcohol and suicide, the researchers concluded. Before then, death rates for that group dropped steadily, and at a faster pace.

An increase in the mortality rate for any large demographic group in an advanced nation has been virtually unheard of in recent decades, with the exception of Russian men after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

with wide ranging potential impact ......

“This is the first indicator that the plane has crashed,” said Jonathan Skinner, a professor of economics at Dartmouth College, who reviewed the study and co-authored a commentary that appears with it. “I don’t know what’s going on, but the plane has definitely crashed.

“High school graduates [and] high school dropouts [are] 40 percent of the population,” he added. “It’s not just the 10 percent who didn’t finish high school. It’s a much bigger group.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...a63098-8172-11e5-8ba6-cec48b74b2a7_story.html

 

[hotatlboi]

Yet another example of how important education is.

My guess is that these people simply do not understand how to take care of themselves as they get older.

 

[Benvolio]

Very strange. Plenty of people in other groups and other countries have all the same bad habits and don't take care of themselves etc. It is difficult to see why this group should be so dramatically different. My guess is that the difference is caused by abuse of prescription and over the counter drugs. This group usually has health and drug insurance with fewer limitations than may exist in countries where the government pays for the drugs. I doubt if the group has more alcohol abusers than other groups and countries, but some drugs combine with alcohol to damage the liver--Tylenol, got instance. Educated people may read and follow directions more faithfully. Fewer poor people may have the financial ability to abuse prescription drugs.

 

[hotatlboi]

This group usually has health and drug insurance

Negative. Poor uneducated people are the most likely to not have insurance. And repealing the ACA would make this problem even worse.

 

[Benvolio]

Negative. Poor uneducated people are the most likely to not have insurance. And repealing the ACA would make this problem even worse.

You cannot assume that these are poor or that they do not have insurance.
The chart shows the most dramatic rise in poisonings, less in suicides and chronic liver disease, but all can easily from prescription drug abuse. The increase in poisonings is the clue pointing to medical drug abuse as the cause.

 

[hotatlboi]

You cannot assume that these are poor

Of course we can. Wealth is strongly correlated with education.

 

[Benvolio]

Of course we can. Wealth is strongly correlated with education.

Many without college have good incomes and health insurance. Ours is not a country of poor people, however much liberals want to think it is.

 

[Kulindahr]

Yet another example of how important education is.

My guess is that these people simply do not understand how to take care of themselves as they get older.

Plus this is a group that -- when they have any -- have medical insurance they can't afford to use. This trend is likely to expand due to Obamacare, which has forced lower middle class people into insurance they can't afford to use either.

Medical insurance should not be a for-profit business; it should be not-for-profit, period. My insurance is through a church, and its focus is on actually trying to get people cared for, not on making a profit, so I have low deductibles and low co-pays.

Also, with the significant stress levels reported, having to deal with insurance can itself be a factor in not getting care: that process itself can be so stressful people avoid it.

 

[Kulindahr]

The increase in poisonings is the clue pointing to medical drug abuse as the cause.

Without knowing the poisons involved, it would be equally if not more likely to point to chemicals corporations know kill people but insist on selling anyway. As an example, it's becoming evident that Monsanto is behind a large portion of reproductive and skin cancers due to chemical residues stemming from Monsanto's insanely high recommended application levels.

 

[rareboy]

Eventually, the all you can eat, all you can drink, sit on the couch and watch football and NASCAR was going to catch up with the tail end of the boomer generation.

And of course, middle aged males without primary care physician is going to let everything go undiagnosed and only start to appear in the health care system when they turn up at the Emerg. This is why many problems with liver disease, non-lung cancers, heart and blood pressure can go undiagnosed and untreated for a long time.

In countries with universal coverage and an emphasis on primary, preventive care, the trend continues to better health and lower mortality.

And the idea is that they're all dropping dead because they are over-insured for prescription meds is ludicrous as well.

The 2008 economic meltdown had a huge impact on the now middle aged male. I know. It did on me. Stress levels through the roof, for many men they saw their retirement move out about 10 to 15 years and many were thrown out of work. For the US male, I'm sure that it was a crash of expectations.

So how many of these guys blew their brains out with their gun versus men in other countries with fewer guns per household? That should be interesting to study.

The other thing is how many of these males have been in the armed forces in combat. I'd like to see that stat as well. We know that the US is failing its veterans once they've done their duty keeping Halliburton in business.

 

[rareboy]

I'd also like to see the stats on how many of these were white guys from the southern states who just decided they had nothing to live for when a black man won his second term as president.

 

[xbuzzerx]

Many without college have good incomes and health insurance. Ours is not a country of poor people, however much liberals want to think it is.

"Many" is a term where it could cover 100 or 1000. Certainly most do not come anywhere close to meeting "Good incomes and health insurance" out of h.s. dropouts and non-college educated people.

Your party and their contributors outsourced those jobs.

 

[T-Rexx]

I almost posted this thread myself a few months ago.

This problem is a manifestation of the destruction of the American middle class. Poorly-educated, middle-aged white guys no longer have the financial resources that were available to this group in the past. Highly paid, low-skill manufacturing jobs do not exist anymore. Because of their age and lack of education, these guys have no hope of obtaining a job. Ever.

Moreover, the recent trend to cut social welfare benefits has hit this group hard. They simply have no alternatives for survival.

Absence of hope = Likelihood of death.

For all his talk about this problem, Obama has done nothing (okay, very little) to address it. Hillary says she would not raise their taxes, an obviously laughable suggestion. And all of the Republican presidential candidates want to try to make the problem a lot worse.

 

[Kulindahr]

Eventually, the all you can eat, all you can drink, sit on the couch and watch football and NASCAR was going to catch up with the tail end of the boomer generation.

And of course, middle aged males without primary care physician is going to let everything go undiagnosed and only start to appear in the health care system when they turn up at the Emerg. This is why many problems with liver disease, non-lung cancers, heart and blood pressure can go undiagnosed and untreated for a long time.

In countries with universal coverage and an emphasis on primary, preventive care, the trend continues to better health and lower mortality.

This is why a tax credit for the cost of an annual physical should have been part of health care reform.

And the idea is that they're all dropping dead because they are over-insured for prescription meds is ludicrous as well.

Yeah -- even with insurance, a lot of people skimp on meds because they're still so expensive. I was almost glad I had a life-threatening allergic reaction to one of my meds, forcing me to drop it, because it saved me a decent chunk a month. Heck, even with a triple layer of prescription coverage, my mom's monthly prescription bill is enough we could all go out to dinner twice a month if she didn't have that cost!

The 2008 economic meltdown had a huge impact on the now middle aged male. I know. It did on me. Stress levels through the roof, for many men they saw their retirement move out about 10 to 15 years and many were thrown out of work. For the US male, I'm sure that it was a crash of expectations.

From experience I know just how much stress can aggravate all sorts of conditions, from arthritis to allergies to even healing rates of wounds -- stress weakens the immune system all around.

So how many of these guys blew their brains out with their gun versus men in other countries with fewer guns per household? That should be interesting to study.

The other thing is how many of these males have been in the armed forces in combat. I'd like to see that stat as well. We know that the US is failing its veterans once they've done their duty keeping Halliburton in business.

Whoa -- good point!

 

[Benvolio]

Your explanations do not realistically account for the alleged differences between whites and minorities. I say alleged because I retain a certain scepticism about the whole thing. The difference seems too much to be real.

 

[cityboy-stl]

I almost posted this thread myself a few months ago.

This problem is a manifestation of the destruction of the American middle class. Poorly-educated, middle-aged white guys no longer have the financial resources that were available to this group in the past. Highly paid, low-skill manufacturing jobs do not exist anymore. Because of their age and lack of education, these guys have no hope of obtaining a job. Ever.

Moreover, the recent trend to cut social welfare benefits has hit this group hard. They simply have no alternatives for survival.

Absence of hope = Likelihood of death.

For all his talk about this problem, Obama has done nothing (okay, very little) to address it. Hillary says she would not raise their taxes, an obviously laughable suggestion. And all of the Republican presidential candidates want to try to make the problem a lot worse.

^^^ THIS ^^^

It's the economy stupid. Drug and alcohol are but a symptom.

 

[Keeland]

I doubt if the group has more alcohol abusers than other groups and countries, but some drugs combine with alcohol to damage the liver--Tylenol, got instance. Educated people may read and follow directions more faithfully.

Manitoba will be a North American island of white, middle-aged, where the rich will travel to shoot videos and show their children what 55-year-olds look like.

The horror the kids experience, though, will last a lifetime, until they turn 50 and die from Tylenol. After hundreds of thousands of children experience the trauma of seeing a like number of middle-aged, parents who take their children to Manitoba will be condemned and imprisoned for child abuse, governments the world over will prohibit travel to Manitoba, and Saskatchewan will reap the windfall.

You read it here first.

 

[T-Rexx]

Your explanations do not realistically account for the alleged differences between whites and minorities. I say alleged because I retain a certain scepticism about the whole thing. The difference seems too much to be real.

Nonsense. The death rate for minorities is still higher than for whites. What is changing is that more and more white people are falling into the same demographic group as the minorities, and white death rates are rising to reflect those of minority groups.

White people are becoming poor because of the destruction of the middle class (which has always been overwhelmingly white). And that's the entire story here.

 

[Benvolio]

Nonsense. The death rate for minorities is still higher than for whites. What is changing is that more and more white people are falling into the same demographic group as the minorities, and white death rates are rising to reflect those of minority groups.

White people are becoming poor because of the destruction of the middle class (which has always been overwhelmingly white). And that's the entire story here.

Don't go there. I will be forced to remind you that the destruction oh the middle clas results from the massive inflow of millions and millions and millions of immigrants, working cheap and pulling wages down. Them you will accuse me of diverting the thread.

 

[T-Rexx]

Don't go there. I will be forced to remind you that the destruction oh the middle clas results from the massive inflow of millions and millions and millions of immigrants, working cheap and pulling wages down. Them you will accuse me of diverting the thread.

No, I will accuse you of ignoring evidence and reason.

But I am not appealing to you to be logical. I know that is impossible.