Our healthcare system is anything but perfect, but it's not without some merits. There is no better place in the world for advanced medical treatment than the United States, this is a bit of proof how that plays out.

Quote:The rate of people dying from cancer in the United States continued to decline for the 26th year in a row, according to a new American Cancer Society report.

From 2016 to 2017, the United States saw its largest-ever single-year drop in overall cancer deaths, a 2.2% plunge spurred in part by a sharp decline in lung cancer deaths, according to the report, published Wednesday in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/08/health/ca...ium=social

Was sorta inevitable with the steep and steady decline in smoking a generation ago.

Partly due to better cancer treatment (and also because drug overdoses declined a bit), the U.S. life expectancy climbed a little bit in 2018 - the first climb in four years. Good news.

It would probably climb dramatically if our eating habits as a country improved.

(01-30-2020 06:58 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Partly due to better cancer treatment (and also because drug overdoses declined a bit), the U.S. life expectancy climbed a little bit in 2018 - the first climb in four years. Good news.

It would probably climb dramatically if our eating habits as a country improved.

I tend to agree with you FBO

See!!!!!!!!!!! Obamacare does work....

(01-29-2020 06:44 PM)Love and Honor Wrote:  Our healthcare system is anything but perfect, but it's not without some merits. There is no better place in the world for advanced medical treatment than the United States, this is a bit of proof how that plays out.

Quote:The rate of people dying from cancer in the United States continued to decline for the 26th year in a row, according to a new American Cancer Society report.

From 2016 to 2017, the United States saw its largest-ever single-year drop in overall cancer deaths, a 2.2% plunge spurred in part by a sharp decline in lung cancer deaths, according to the report, published Wednesday in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/08/health/ca...ium=social

Our actual doctors and medical technology are the best in the world on the whole...the system itself is just ******. It's the wild west where nobody is really in control and you can be charged inexplicable amounts for a procedure that costs considerably less elsewhere.

I tore my ACL thee weeks ago today. My sister's surgery for an ACL tear was $64,000 at one of the big clinics around here back in 2010. I went to a small private clinic owned by a well reviewed doctor. It will be around $12,000 there. The difference? He uses a government owned outpatient surgery center that only charges a $1500 facility use fee. His fee for the actual surgery is higher than the surgery fee for my sister. Fortunately for an injury like an ACL, I can shop it around because it isn't painful and it isn't life threatening, just a bit of an inconvenience (I can do anything but run with a brace on), but for conditions that need immediate attention, you have no choice in your healthcare costs.

Even doctors hate our healthcare system. They spend an unnecessary amount of time dealing with insurance bull****. I read a recent study that said private insurers have many more levels of bureaucracy than the medicare program. It is a terribly inefficient and needlessly expensive system. My ex gf's sister opened her own private practice that doesn't take insurance because she wanted to be a doctor, not a paper pusher. She spent up to half her time dealing with paper work before opening her own clinic and refusing insurance. That's great for her, but private, insurance-free clinics are only available to the wealthy.

(01-30-2020 06:58 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Partly due to better cancer treatment (and also because drug overdoses declined a bit), the U.S. life expectancy climbed a little bit in 2018 - the first climb in four years. Good news.

It would probably climb dramatically if our eating habits as a country improved.

Absolutely. I try to eat healthy and less at each meal but I'm not always successful. I have managed to drop from a high of 208 pounds. A LOT for my frame, down to 178-182 and have managed to maintain that weight. I need to get back in the gym though after a five year hiatus. At one time I weighed in at a rock solid 190, the best shape of my life during my 50's, with most of it being muscle and very little fat. I'm puny now everywhere except the 5-10 pounds of gut I still haven't shaken off. I'd like to either get back to 170ish or I'd settle for 180-185 if I could build back my muscle mass, a difficult thing to do at 63.

Life expectancy also rose from 78.6 to 78.7 because of this.