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> because it shouldn't matter. It absolutely, 100% does matter, because Native American reservations[0] receive their healthcare exclusively through the IHS.
by chimeracoder 8y ago
> because it shouldn't matter.
It absolutely, 100% does matter, because Native American reservations[0] receive their healthcare exclusively through the IHS. The IHS is a completely separate system that is exclusively used by Native Americans, and it has massive documented logistical and ethical problems going back all the way to its founding.
It's downright deceptive not to mention that the data is so heavily shaped by this structural problem, because it completely changes the message people take away from it.
[0] including Oglala Lakota County
- Retric 8y agoHealthcare does not represent a 10 year life expectancy age gap alone. Healthcare has the largest influence on life expectancy from infant mortality, but the 0.5% increase only changes life expectancy by ~6 months.
- chimeracoder 8y ago> Healthcare has the largest influence on life expectancy from infant mortality, but the 0.5% increase only changes life expectancy by ~6 months. That is simply not true for the IHS. The IHS is way, way worse than anything you can imagine in the rest of the US. It has literally committed genocide (intentionally) under the ruse of medical care, and genocide has a funny way of decreasing life expectancy.
- Retric 8y agoI am not defending IHS, if you say it's doing a poor job then it likely is. However, other factors are still important. EX: "At 43%, adult obesity rates in Oglala Lakota County were 17 percentage points higher than rates of adult obesity nationally and 13 points higher than statewide rates." Further, you can find several other counties with rather similar life expectancy results that don't have IHS. So, simply pointing at IHS is not the complete story.