Paywall free Washington Post gift article.
“Ohio sticks out — for all the wrong reasons. Roughly 1 in 5 Ohioans will die before they turn 65, according to Montez’s analysis using the state’s 2019 death rates. The state, whose legislature has been increasingly dominated by Republicans, has plummeted nationally when it comes to life expectancy rates, moving from middle of the pack to the bottom fifth of states during the last 50 years, The Post found. Ohioans have a similar life expectancy to residents of Slovakia and Ecuador, relatively poor countries.”
Conservatism is a plague of ignorance and death. It always has been. That will never change. The only way to change any of this is to marginalize and minimize conservatism.
Getting rid of conservatism in our culture is a matter of public health and safety. If this only affected conservatives, this wouldn’t be a crisis. But conservative ignorance is killing normal people as well.
In the past six months, Czup has arranged the funerals of a 37-year-old killed by complications from diabetes, a 54-year-old killed by lung disease and a 54-year-old killed by a stroke, among many others who died prematurely.
“How long until this is me?” the funeral director wondered, noting his stress-filled 18-hour days and unhealthy diet.
How many of these people didn’t have health care, and didn’t catch their illnesses in the early stages? This country desperately needs universal health care.
Universal healthcare is really only one piece of the puzzle. We already have doc shortages in most of the country, particularly rural areas. If all of a sudden the patient amounts to up by 10% (more probably, since these people delayed healthcare and probably have health problems), that doesn’t solve the problem. Ensuring access to healthcare is more than just ensuring coverage/affordability.
Removed by mod
Even before covid we were the only G7 nation with a decreasing life expectancy.
And much of that is because of our horrid health insurance system. A year before COVID hit, I developed a horrible cough. I’d be doubled over and coughing so much I’d feel dizzy.
I didn’t want to go to the doctor though. I had health insurance, but I knew I would need scans (x-rays, MRI, whatever). For those, my insurance covered it only after I hit my deductible. Even then, they covered 80% and I would have to pay 20%.
Given this, I might need to pay quite a bit and money was tight. So I put up with the cough for an entire month before I relented and went to the doctor.
Thankfully, it wasn’t something major and was easily treated. Still, I shouldn’t have needed to make the decision about whether I could afford to treat my ailment. Someone with a worse health insurance situation, worse financial situation, and worse health problems could have to decide whether they had enough money to get healthcare. That should never be the case for anyone.
You can’t pull social security if you just die right after retirement!
Anyone else see Dory in those blue Doritos?
