A study by researchers at the Brown University School of Public Health found that avoidable mortality rose across all U.S. states from 2009 to 2021, while it declined in most other high-income countries.
“When the researchers examined the causes of avoidable deaths (including road traffic accidents, illnesses preventable by vaccines, treatable conditions like sepsis or appendicitis, and conditions preventable by early detection and treatment like cervical cancer, ischemic heart disease and tuberculosis), they found that deaths from a variety of different causes are rising in every U.S.”
“There’s been a lot of discussion about preventable deaths in the U.S. such as drug-related deaths or suicides, which do account for a big proportion of this trend,” Papanicolas said. “However, we found that deaths from nearly all major categories are increasing.”
People just aren’t going to the doctor cause it costs too much…thanks, free market!
There’s also a severe shortage of medical professionals ever since covid in all fields all over the country (but especially in rural and rapidly-growing areas). Good luck actually getting a medical appointment, and even if you can swing one standards have been weakened so that what would normally be a visit with a doctor (or the field’s equivalent) is now a nurse practitioner or other less-educated title. If you want a “real” medical professional you need a referral, and again, good luck getting that appointment scheduled. Everyone working in medicine is overworked and burned out. Unless you’re actively bleeding out, seeking medical attention, especially routine checkups and preventative screening, doesn’t feel worth it anymore.
I’m not too surprised to see cancer deaths being one rare area that’s decreasing; besides strides in treatment, most cancer sufferers are older and thus wealthier and also have Medicare, plus they also probably already have a primary care physician from pre-shortage. The hardest-hit in the medical care shortage are the young and people who have recently moved, and find themselves running into the wall of “no one is taking new patients.”
“When the researchers examined the causes of avoidable deaths (including road traffic accidents, illnesses preventable by vaccines, treatable conditions like sepsis or appendicitis, and conditions preventable by early detection and treatment like cervical cancer, ischemic heart disease and tuberculosis), they found that deaths from a variety of different causes are rising in every U.S.”
“There’s been a lot of discussion about preventable deaths in the U.S. such as drug-related deaths or suicides, which do account for a big proportion of this trend,” Papanicolas said. “However, we found that deaths from nearly all major categories are increasing.”
People just aren’t going to the doctor cause it costs too much…thanks, free market!
There was a case of a self employed carpenter in Queens, NY. He won the lottery and splurged on getting a checkup.
He had cancer. If he’d lived in a place that had better healthcare he’d have been able to get treated earlier.
There’s also a severe shortage of medical professionals ever since covid in all fields all over the country (but especially in rural and rapidly-growing areas). Good luck actually getting a medical appointment, and even if you can swing one standards have been weakened so that what would normally be a visit with a doctor (or the field’s equivalent) is now a nurse practitioner or other less-educated title. If you want a “real” medical professional you need a referral, and again, good luck getting that appointment scheduled. Everyone working in medicine is overworked and burned out. Unless you’re actively bleeding out, seeking medical attention, especially routine checkups and preventative screening, doesn’t feel worth it anymore.
I’m not too surprised to see cancer deaths being one rare area that’s decreasing; besides strides in treatment, most cancer sufferers are older and thus wealthier and also have Medicare, plus they also probably already have a primary care physician from pre-shortage. The hardest-hit in the medical care shortage are the young and people who have recently moved, and find themselves running into the wall of “no one is taking new patients.”