Live to 43 or 86? Depends on where you live

Some people can not afford to make healthy choices.

The fact is healthy choices are most often less expensive then unhealthy choices. Especially when it comes to dietary choices, which so very often the cause/avoidance health problems.

Who are these "some people" you refer to? A shop worn vehicle to attempt to instill guilt in those of us who take the time and effort to be able to identify healthy choices from unhealthy ones?

Pleading poverty to every last issue under the sun is a loser's strategy.

As a college student doing my best to stay healthy on a very low budget, I have to contradict that statement. Most of the time the healthy choices, especially dietary ones, are consistently more expensive.

In addition to that, being unable to afford health insurance I am watching many problems arise over a span of a few years that could have been avoided by regular visits to the dentist, optometrist, and recommended follow-ups at the chiropractor and gynecologist. Unfortunately, I can't afford to pay for full-time college tuition and health care at the same time.

It's a very common problem. Even temporary financial straights can set someone back considerably in their health.

It is lunacy to think that places like Zimbabwe care one wit about their citizens. A complete Utopian dream.

I think that the greatest cause to poor health is economic conditions. It is the poor who suffer.

Dear "person", "poison that's put in poor people's food?"
I'm not "super rich" so I'm guessing I'm not an inbred. Please throw out a few facts here. Where did you get the information that you stated your"facts" on?

The more affluent peoples with health care aren't inbred - but modern medicine is allowing weak traits to be passed on by keeping people who probably would have died in infancy or childhood - before they had time to reproduce - to pass on weak traits to the next generation. We've had two or three generations of this in our country now.

I've talked to people from the UK and Canada... Universal health care is not that great, and can actually lead to bigger problems. (This is coming from someone who can't afford insurance)

I agree its misleading... my sister and my father lived in the same community in Pennsylvania... my sister died at 63 from drinking the water... my father died at 97 from eating ice cream everynight before going to bed... he drank the water too......... I think the ice cream neutralized the radioactivity in the water.......... whatdoyathinkofthat?

You can thank the legal system for setting precedence by making people not accountable for their own actions. People that get coffee at McD's have to drink it warm because an old lady can't hold her cup. And your comment about Socialism is American, "red scare" propaganda. Socialism and Communism are different. Please research this. Einstein supported Socialism.

Mr G. You are right about there being a difference between socialism and communism. The good old USA has been a blend of socialism and capitalism for years. Even John McCain participates in socialism when he cashes his monthly social security check.

You hit it on the head Greywolf. I, and so many I know, have experienced the exact scenario you've just laid out. On my last visit to the ER, I was treated like a king once they found out I had BCBS. But, between unnecessary procedures, (three xrays for an abscess on my elbow?) and deny deny deny from my insurance co., I end up with a $1600 dollar bill which is now in collections! I WILL NOT PAY since that was my first and only claim with BCBS after 10 years of paying premiums. I will no more go back to the doctor than the man on the moon. I have to be literally dying before I'll do that again. Meanwhile my credit score drops 100 points, but I WILL NOT PAY!!!!!!! I'm not a picture of health, but I don't go to the doctor every week for a runny nose either. Next time I'll just lance the thing myself and pour some antibiotic ointment on it. $10 versus $2800, and I don't spend four hours in the frickin EMPTY emergency room. I think I would have been better off saying I had no insurance!

You - please don't, that's what the HMOs want, people to go away. Call BC/BS, tell them you want a review and to speak with management. Send a copy to the INSURANCE COMMISSIONER in your STATE, document names and dates with whom you've talked. They don't have to go up so high as to have the manager who makes a million+ dollars in bonus call you - docs and administrators get bonuses for keeping down costs. But do write in and do call for a manager. They will deny until they know you are not going away. They hope you will give up. Don't.

1misty. I belonged to a HMO for years. They will do everything they can to cut health care to make a profit. I have even seen managers override a physicians order because of the cost of the care.

HMOs are not the answer for better health care.

And the sad thing is, most Americans that work hard and try to make a living on their own, are the same ones that get brain-washed into voting for a politician that will raise taxes, expand government and increase federal spending. It's not a Democratic or Republican issue. This "Universal Healthcare" ideal, is just another form of a growing "mental" problem in the U.S. that will lead to the masses cheering like a bunch of drones and following aimlessly like sheep to whatever the media wants to feed them. First, it's market bail-outs [because after all....they are just too important to fail], then comes healthcare [so go ahead fatty, eat another burger.....the tax payers will help you] and then you get a ticket for farting in public because the methane from your butt is contributing to Global Warming. So gone on America, drink the cool-aid......everything will be just fine :)

In my 61 years no president has expanded government more than G. W. Bush and none has done more to raise taxes, although it will be taxes the next generation will have to pay. G. W. Bush has run the USA on credit. Also health care has declined during his administration.

Ray - if you are in a BCBS HMO it is illegal for the hopsital to balance bill you for the $1600. And if you have fee for service insurance you should only be responsible for your deductible and copay. If they accepted your insurance, they should not be able to balance bill for what the insurance company denied. You should definitely escalate the claim to a higher level at the insurance company and ask them if you are resonsible for the balance.

Depending on your insurance, you probably shouldn't be.

You have a point. I read one time that if a person had a million dollars and bought a million people a cheeseburger from McDonalds the next day the person who had the million dollars would be broke and the people who had the cheeseburgers would be hungry again. It avails us not to pour money into other nations if we do not have our own nation taken care of properly.

No. That wasn't necessarily my point. Nearly all of my charity leaves the country. Simple fact is that we have it the best in the world. Those who don't get educated in this country or become successful have no one but themselves to blame. I donate money for education in some of the poorest countries in the world. These kids do not have the same opportunities that our kids do. They have real "walls" there. Sometimes, abject poverty, racism, ethnic discrimination, sexism, religious discrimination. After visiting Africa, I have a new appreciation of just how lucky some of our poorest citizens are. Besides, my dollar goes a lot father in those countries. I can help more people. In addition, these countries will become more productive and then we have new friends to trade with and help protect each other. It is true what they say. You give and you shall receive. Give a man a fish and he'll be fed for today, teach a man to fish and he'll be fed for a lifetime. Throwing money at something isn't the right answer, but educating and offering the people opportunities is the right answer. Some want to be lazy, but many more do not. Give them their shot. This shot is what we Americans take for granted.

I think there is a buddhist proverb: you should never give a fish to hungry, but teach him how to catch a fish

Poverty is not a cultural of lifestyle decision.

You are right, poverty is not a lifestyle decision, but I agree completely that this article does not discuss the differences of lifestyle decisions and lifespan. Just look at the picture of the old Japanese women, what are they doing??? WORKING in the fields, doing manual labor!! Do you see any old Americans, or for that matter any rich people in any country period, working in the fields?? No we have machines that do it while we SIT on our butts all day on computers, then go home and SIT and watch TV, and our kids SIT and play video games, then eat processed dinners!!! How is it that our dogs can be taken away from us for feeding them chips and soda but it is okay to feed our kids???? We are committing SUICIDE BY LIFESTYLE.

Amen brother!

LNE,

just a short remark - African woman also does a lot of manual labor, which doesn't help her to live longer, apparently.

Moderation is necessary in everything you do.

And who pays for this "free" lunch???

Drug companies need some kind of regulation. It is obscene the huge profits they make on people's misery. They are completely amok and out of control.

Bob-434277 Take the Billions we are giving away to countries who do not like us.

Death is the end result of life, but there is no need to rush it by lack of proper medical attention.

Agreed. But, we no longer can save the world. We need to focus on our own country.

probably, their health care is not too universal

THEY may not care, but if WE care enough maybe THEY will have to listen. Everything has to start somewhere. WE can begin by voting for advocated of health reform.

Just stop. We have national health care. If you are injured or need medical attention, you will get it, regardless of your ability to pay. That isn't true in many other countries. If you break your arm in Iran and you don't have the cash on hand to fix it, tough luck. It isn't about people caring. Feelings do not trump logic. Money does not grow on trees and you cannot demand people pay for the care of people they don't want to care for. It creates resentment and a whole nation full of people who feel entitled. You are not entitled to anything. This is the truth. Nothing. Life is not fair. We can try to make it more fair, but it isn't fair. Period. Grey Wolf is correct. If we didn't have the national care system that we already have, those of us who are insured would have better care for things that happen in life. Those who live risky lives and do risky things would have to actually pay the consequences of that. No matter how poor my parents became and we were living in 1 room for 5 people and families donated food to us, my father never let the health insurance lapse. He understood that he would bankrupt his family and have to ask for government aid, which would have crushed his pride and integrity. I have friends without insurance who constantly bemoan that fact. I have shown them where they can get health insurance for $100 a month. They scoff. They can still afford to smoke, go out to eat, go clubbing, buy crap for their apartments. Guess what, when one had an accident and the bill came, they cried foul. Well, BS! Deal with it. Bad choices often have bad consequences.

It is OK to help others, but we have many poor right here in the USA who need help. Charity starts at home.

We don't have poverty here. Not real poverty. Go anywhere besides Europe, Canada, and the United States and you will find it in spades. The closest we have to poverty is the Appalachians and the deep south. This can be rectified through education and a change in attitude.

Melissa...drive through Appilachia sometime. You will see poverty and it is real.

I already acknowledged the Appalachians. We did some volunteer work in those parts.

One way we might help pay for it is to quit invading other countries. Wars should be defensive.

Genetics look after females the same as a concerned car owner tends for his vehicle , they both get 'Regular oil changes ' , sorry , but it is the only practical difference i can think of .

That's simple enough - testosterone - aggression - fragility.

For every 100 female babies conceived there are 110 males conceived. 5 males die in utero. By some where in the twenties another 5 males are dead. And it is down hill form there. You have higher rates of cancer, heart disease and stroke. Earlier onset of heart disease. You have higher rates of accidents and aggression from childhood. Higher rates of suicide, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Higher rates of criminal behavior, incarceration and murder.

And there is much more from the medical side.

And from a survival of the species perspective you are less necessary than we are - at least until menopause. You produce millions of sperm cells a day. We produce 13 eggs a year 2 to 4 of which are viable from ages 13-45. Do the math. And then there's pregnancy and giving birth - got to be tough to survive that - multiple times.

In the end we are tougher than you are from the moment of conception.

And let us not forget we need to figure in the 20-25 million illegal immigrants that will be added to the cost for this health care plan. Oh, and they will also have their relatives up here soon. So that's a new total of 80 million within 10 years. Now that is going to be some interesting medical care.

It is easy to see you are well insured. If you were in poverty watching your young child die you might sing another song.

We do not all rush down to the good Ole USA to get health care. I am a senior citizen up here in the great white socialist north and I have had children and breast cancer, I have also had my appendicts removed and I pay a small amount of insurance to my plan and i think that is pretty wonderful. I don't have a huge deductable that I have to pay one of the weathiest conglomerates known to man kind either so that I can get health care when I need it. The root of all evil in this bloody world is greed!!!!

Thank you for making that point. It needed to be made.

h2o-3931184 You bet I have insurance with a huge deductible. I work hard and make sure that I can afford to be treated, if I need care. You don't know what I have witnessed. Where in the constitution does it grant the right to health care or financial security. If you believe social health care will change the results...I have some bad news for you.