6 ms·

This is surprising as it goes against the what I've heard in the past. The 10,000 foot summary I had was: Americans are starting to die earlier, but the age ex

This is surprising as it goes against the what I've heard in the past. The 10,000 foot summary I had was: Americans are starting to die earlier, but the age expectancy of the wealthiest Americans is longer than of people in most countries. This article says that even the American top 1% die earlier than people in other countries. However, the lack of numbers makes me question this. Also, the cited reason is socialized healthcare. In the US, the top 1% has access to healthcare through their employers of being able to pay on their own, so it is surprising that this would be a major factor. I think this article is lacking the details that would make me take the claims seriously.

jacquesm 1y ago
It could be diet.
- zeroc8 1y ago
  It must be the diet and proably the general more stressy life style. Anytime I'm coming back from a business trip to the states, I feel bloated like a hot air baloon. Not sure what they put in their food. Generally, you get this fast food crap everywhere and it's almost impossible to have a normal (what a European would consider so) meal during lunch break. It even starts at their high schools with super unhealthy ham and cheese sandwhiches and what not. But it's not only that. Last time I bought some apples in a grocery store and holy shit, those apples tasted like some chemical bomb. They looked really nice though....
  - tomjakubowski 1y ago
    > It even starts at their high schools with super unhealthy ham and cheese sandwhiches and what not What do you mean, Europeans don't eat jambon-beurre? Wikipedia: > More than three million jambon-beurre sandwiches are sold in France each day, more than any other kind of sandwich, except for hamburgers.
    - 1718627440 1y ago
      I think it is less about the ham and butter itself, but about all the chemical ingredients that are there to make the food look nice, conserve it and make it tastier, that are simply forbidden in Europe due to their effects on health.
      - jacquesm 1y ago
        Not to mention the quality of the bread itself.
maverwa 1y ago
I think one should also keep in mind that the linked study covers a 12 year period (2010 to 2022) which includes the covid years. But that should probably bias the number in the opposite direction, if at all. The 1% should have had better chances to survive covid.
lava_pidgeon 1y ago
The usual explanation is it is more dangerous to live in America e.g. homicides are much spread than in Europe. It is so much more dangerous compared to Europe which always had a war starting every 15 years after 1990. Also the health system in America is fucked. This isn't a question of socialised vs privatised system as all health systems in Europe have a mix of both. (England is a big outlier here).
- graemep 1y ago
  > The usual explanation is it is more dangerous to live in America e.g. homicides are much spread than in Europe Not enough to have a significant effect on life expectancy. > This isn't a question of socialised vs privatised system as all health systems in Europe have a mix of both. (England is a big outlier here). You mean the UK, not England, and there is a lot of private medicine here, and the NHS outsources a lot to the private sector (including almost all GP services). It is different in terms of funding and organisation from other developed countries.
- SideburnsOfDoom 1y ago
  > This isn't a question of socialised vs privatised system as all health systems in Europe have a mix of both. (England is a big outlier here) In what way is the UK an outlier? Are you saying that there's no privatised healthcare in the UK? If so, what would you call: BUPA https://www.bupa.co.uk/ https://www.bupa.co.uk/ Vitality https://www.vitality.co.uk/ https://www.vitality.co.uk/
guappa 1y ago
I presume the poor quality of the lifestyle, food and environment in USA has an impact, regardless of how much you can spend on medicines to try and offset that.
tetris11 1y ago
Don't 1% rich people die of rich people causes? i.e. Easy and unending access to drugs, and or party related diseases?
- attemptone 1y ago
  Easy and rather unending access to drugs is not that hard to achieve. One might even argue it is easier to achieve as a poor person. Besides what is a party related disease? Something like an STD, or more akin to a manic episode Cancer, stroke, dementia; death doesn't care about your numbers, it cares about you
  - tetris11 1y ago
    I'd argue that a rich person has more of a reason to develop a severe addiction if the quality of their stuff is more pure and comes with less of a risk
    - attemptone 1y ago
      difficulties in life and genetics are more of a reason to decelop a severe addiction. Quality is probably not so much of importance - people still smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol. It feels like we forgot about the opiod epidemic, meth, crack.. Anyhow, I think this derailed enough. I just wanted to point out the weird protestant views of op.
  - SideburnsOfDoom 1y ago
    Prince Rogers Nelson and Michael Jackson both had personal doctors who both played a role in their deaths, with drugs that they gave. Similarly Matthew Perry. This is not an option for ordinary people.
decafninja 1y ago
Same. My impression was that if you can pay for it, American healthcare is unrivaled. And by “pay for it”, I don’t mean the typical employer provided insurance and visiting the usual doctors. I mean high end concierge care that starts at five figures minimum to buy in annually before any other expenses. A PC doctor is just a phone call away, and they’ll use theirs and their organization’s connections and resources to get you whatever additional care you need quickly and effectively.

jacquesm 1y ago

It could be diet.

zeroc8 1y ago
It must be the diet and proably the general more stressy life style. Anytime I'm coming back from a business trip to the states, I feel bloated like a hot air baloon. Not sure what they put in their food. Generally, you get this fast food crap everywhere and it's almost impossible to have a normal (what a European would consider so) meal during lunch break. It even starts at their high schools with super unhealthy ham and cheese sandwhiches and what not. But it's not only that. Last time I bought some apples in a grocery store and holy shit, those apples tasted like some chemical bomb. They looked really nice though....
- tomjakubowski 1y ago
  > It even starts at their high schools with super unhealthy ham and cheese sandwhiches and what not What do you mean, Europeans don't eat jambon-beurre? Wikipedia: > More than three million jambon-beurre sandwiches are sold in France each day, more than any other kind of sandwich, except for hamburgers.
  - 1718627440 1y ago
    I think it is less about the ham and butter itself, but about all the chemical ingredients that are there to make the food look nice, conserve it and make it tastier, that are simply forbidden in Europe due to their effects on health.
    - jacquesm 1y ago
      Not to mention the quality of the bread itself.

maverwa 1y ago

I think one should also keep in mind that the linked study covers a 12 year period (2010 to 2022) which includes the covid years. But that should probably bias the number in the opposite direction, if at all. The 1% should have had better chances to survive covid.

lava_pidgeon 1y ago

The usual explanation is it is more dangerous to live in America e.g. homicides are much spread than in Europe. It is so much more dangerous compared to Europe which always had a war starting every 15 years after 1990. Also the health system in America is fucked. This isn't a question of socialised vs privatised system as all health systems in Europe have a mix of both. (England is a big outlier here).

graemep 1y ago
> The usual explanation is it is more dangerous to live in America e.g. homicides are much spread than in Europe Not enough to have a significant effect on life expectancy. > This isn't a question of socialised vs privatised system as all health systems in Europe have a mix of both. (England is a big outlier here). You mean the UK, not England, and there is a lot of private medicine here, and the NHS outsources a lot to the private sector (including almost all GP services). It is different in terms of funding and organisation from other developed countries.
SideburnsOfDoom 1y ago
> This isn't a question of socialised vs privatised system as all health systems in Europe have a mix of both. (England is a big outlier here) In what way is the UK an outlier? Are you saying that there's no privatised healthcare in the UK? If so, what would you call: BUPA https://www.bupa.co.uk/ https://www.bupa.co.uk/ Vitality https://www.vitality.co.uk/ https://www.vitality.co.uk/

guappa 1y ago

I presume the poor quality of the lifestyle, food and environment in USA has an impact, regardless of how much you can spend on medicines to try and offset that.

tetris11 1y ago

Don't 1% rich people die of rich people causes? i.e. Easy and unending access to drugs, and or party related diseases?

attemptone 1y ago
Easy and rather unending access to drugs is not that hard to achieve. One might even argue it is easier to achieve as a poor person. Besides what is a party related disease? Something like an STD, or more akin to a manic episode Cancer, stroke, dementia; death doesn't care about your numbers, it cares about you
- tetris11 1y ago
  I'd argue that a rich person has more of a reason to develop a severe addiction if the quality of their stuff is more pure and comes with less of a risk
  - attemptone 1y ago
    difficulties in life and genetics are more of a reason to decelop a severe addiction. Quality is probably not so much of importance - people still smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol. It feels like we forgot about the opiod epidemic, meth, crack.. Anyhow, I think this derailed enough. I just wanted to point out the weird protestant views of op.
- SideburnsOfDoom 1y ago
  Prince Rogers Nelson and Michael Jackson both had personal doctors who both played a role in their deaths, with drugs that they gave. Similarly Matthew Perry. This is not an option for ordinary people.

decafninja 1y ago

Same. My impression was that if you can pay for it, American healthcare is unrivaled. And by “pay for it”, I don’t mean the typical employer provided insurance and visiting the usual doctors. I mean high end concierge care that starts at five figures minimum to buy in annually before any other expenses. A PC doctor is just a phone call away, and they’ll use theirs and their organization’s connections and resources to get you whatever additional care you need quickly and effectively.