NBC: We're unhealthier than everyone else – and it's our own fault

[China]

We're unhealthier than everyone else – and it's our own fault

Americans are far more unhealthy than people in 16 other developed countries, and it’s probably our own fault, experts reported on Wednesday. We die younger from diseases such as obesity and heart disease, and we are far more likely to be murdered and die in car accidents, the researchers at the National Academy of Sciences found.

...

Experts have complained for years that Americans spend far more on healthcare than people in other rich countries, yet have poorer health. The latest report from the federal government shows Americans spent more than $8,600 a year per person on healthcare – more than twice what countries such as Britain, France and Sweden spend, even with their universal healthcare systems.

Yet we don’t live any longer and we are not even healthier, the report by the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine finds. The NRC and IoM, both parts of the National Academies of Science, provide advice to U.S. policymakers. The National Institutes of Health asked them to compare the health of Americans to people in Canada, Australia, Japan and 13 European countries including Britain, France, Portugal, Italy and Germany.

“The size of the health disadvantage was pretty stunning,” Woolf told reporters in a telephone briefing.

Americans did worse in nine areas: infant mortality; injury and homicide rates; teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases; the AIDS virus; drug abuse; obesity and diabetes; heart disease; lung disease; and disabilities.

Click on the link for the full article

[SkinsHokieFan]

Too much driving, too much work in front of a computer, too much fast food, too much fake ass crap sugar and soda, too many fat asses.

Yes America, you are fat, lazy and undisciplined.

[PeterMP]

This isn't really new. The WHO statistics have been out for a while.

I've making the point about us having more deaths from accidents and HIV to JMS for what is probably years now.

[Prosperity]

Too much driving, too much work in front of a computer, too much fast food, too much fake ass crap sugar and soda, too many fat asses.

Yes America, you are fat, lazy and undisciplined.

Lazy or stressed out from too much work and too little pay?

[SkinsHokieFan]

Lazy or stressed out from too much work and too little pay?

Add that to it. We are such a consumer society.

I was going over my dad's bills/"estate" the other day and realized how simple the guy kept it. His cell phone was 10 dollars a month. He avoided all sorts of uneccessary bills that didn't exist 30 years ago.

30 years ago you didn't need two 50 inch TV's, a FIOS bundle package, 3 cell phones and a bunch of IPADs. You didn't have as many bills to stress you out.

So now we have stressed, lazy, undisciplined people who work too much don't exercise enough and eat complete garbage day after day at lunch time

[JMS]

The National Institutes of Health asked them to compare the health of Americans to people in Canada, Australia, Japan and 13 European countries including Britain, France, Portugal, Italy and Germany. ( 15 countries being compared to US )

“The size of the health disadvantage was pretty stunning,” Woolf told reporters in a telephone briefing.

Americans did worse in nine areas: infant mortality; injury and homicide rates; teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases; the AIDS virus; drug abuse; obesity and diabetes; heart disease; lung disease; and disabilities.

And many of these affect young people, not the elderly. Americans are seven times more likely to be murdered than people in the other countries, and 20 times more likely to be killed by a gun.

people being murdered by guns add to mortality rates and hold down average life expectancy rates, but they don't contribute to the expense of our healthcare system.. As for diabetes, heard disease, lung disease I think that can be tracked directly to the failings of the US system to address these health issues...

We pay twice as much per citizen for a person and we don't see any benefits for doing such. Our system is less efficient, provides fewer services, and our population is less healthy even though we spend twice as much or more.

[DjTj]

people being murdered by guns add to mortality rates and hold down average life expectancy rates, but they don't contribute to the expense of our healthcare system..

People injured with guns do add to healthcare expenses, and there are a lot more injuries than deaths.

[ixcuincle]

Yank serving sizes are so big

Went to one meal at Five Guys and asked for normal fries and got a huge batch in my bag

Mercy

Was nearly full from one normal batch of fries

[JMS]

People injured with guns do add to healthcare expenses, and there are a lot more injuries than deaths.

The OP quoted high US motality rates and our lower than average life expectancy than other nations... these aren't factors of gun related INJURIES; but are directly affected by gun related deaths of inner city youth.
The point is that inner cities in the untied states have a huge problem with infant mortality, and young men shooting each other; so high are these numbers that they skew US health statistics...

Trying to say that Americans are less healthy as a population than any other nation on earth and thus the fact that we pay twice as much as any other nation in healthcare expenses are really a reflection of this are bogus.... Facts are the dysfunction and expense of our healthcare industries are one of the biggest problems reflected in these statistics...

There were a few bright spots. Americans have lower death rates from cancer, the No. 2 cause of death, and do better at controlling blood pressure and cholesterol. “Americans who reach age 75 can expect to live longer than people in the peer countries,” the report reads.

"Wealth leaves the city and infant mortality rates rise," said Thomas LaVeist, a professor of public health at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. "Not just in the United States, but worldwide."
http://www.jsonline.com/features/hea...133758368.html

[sideshow24]

Yank serving sizes are so big

Went to one meal at Five Guys and asked for normal fries and got a huge batch in my bag

Mercy

Was nearly full from one normal batch of fries

First time I went there I ordered a double cheeseburger and fries. Little did I know that the order would have fed three people.

---------- Post added January-10th-2013 at 11:51 AM ----------

Too much driving, too much work in front of a computer, too much fast food, too much fake ass crap sugar and soda, too many fat asses.

Yes America, you are fat, lazy and undisciplined.

No denying. Although someone who spends too much time driving(stuck on the beltway) and too much work in front of a computer is not necessarily lazy. I am lazy, but a person like that may not necessarily be.

[JMS]

Yank serving sizes are so big

Went to one meal at Five Guys and asked for normal fries and got a huge batch in my bag

Mercy

Was nearly full from one normal batch of fries

Yes judge our nations health by the size of a serving of Five Guys fries.

Non-Hispanic White ------------------------------------- 5.61
Non-Hispanic Black -------------------------------------13.11
Hispanic -------------------------------------------------- 5.51
Total ---------------------------------------------------------- 6.71


Infant death rate by Race..
http://www.statehealthfacts.org/prof...48&rgn=1&cat=2

[ixcuincle]

It's not only Five Guys

Multiple foreigners have come to America and observed how large American portions are compared to the rest of the World

[MattFancy]

Yank serving sizes are so big

Went to one meal at Five Guys and asked for normal fries and got a huge batch in my bag

Mercy

Was nearly full from one normal batch of fries

But you don't have to eat them all. Yes they do load you up with fries, but just because it's in front of you doesn't mean you have to eat the whole thing. Eating right is about making good food choices and portion control.

[JMS]

It's not only Five Guys

Multiple foreigners have come to America and observed how large American portions are compared to the rest of the World

Cambodians, Chinese, Ethiopians, Thailand, Burmese visitors?......

The point is unless they are handing out hand guns or failing to give out healthcare coverage at their inner city stores, the life expectancy and infant mortality rates for Americans are not affected by Five Guys policies or any other restaurant. Our low life expectancy is mostly effected by inner city youth being shot.

More than 31,000 people a year in the United States die from gunshot wounds.1 Because
victims are disproportionately young, gun violence is one of the leading causes of premature
mortality in the U.S.

http://www.jhsph.edu/research/center...02512_CGPR.pdf

Our high infant mortality rate are mostly effected by inner city children not getting healthcare services ( prenatal and infant).
Mostly because we run a for profit system, and there is no profit in servicing the poor.

Neither is a logical argument to justify high US healthcare costs.

[gortiz]

Lazy or stressed out from too much work and too little pay?

man ... this is not going to fly.

alot of the times peopel think they don't make enough because they are in debt and pay for things on credit and they are way to consumed with the next shiniest gadget. people eat out a lot also, food is a huge expense that people don't pay much attention to.

my co-worker, when i first met her appeard to be the most anti-materialistic person I ever met. In the last year ... brand new car, Iphone 5 and a host other "must haves."