U.S.A. ranks 26th in Life Expectancy, Behind Slovenia!

It’s hard to ignore this dramatic newspaper front page headline.
The Life Expectancy graph is prominently displayed below the headline to
emphasize this statistic and to question the quality of U.S. healthcare.
Because you know, if there’s a graph, it must be science. 

“Even Slovenia is ahead of the USA. Further proof that the United States lags far behind
so many other nations in our quality of healthcare.”
Nothing against Slovenia, a beautiful country in Central Europe, but that statistic was meant as derogatory to our healthcare system.

While the stat may be correct, the conclusion is a lie. A damned lie.

I’m just not in the mood these days to put up with folks
attacking my country or my profession.

It’s hunting season and our nation’s healthcare is the target. Take a shot.
No limits. Like shooting fish in a barrel, you can’t miss. Whack-a-Doc.
But as the song goes, “you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”

Statistics are often used to make a point. In a world of sound bits, headlines, and shortened news stories, the superficial takes on more meaning than it should.
USA healthcare is too expensive, yes. But poor quality? Don’t be ridiculous.

The message that our nation’s healthcare is dreadful, ranked 26th in the world based upon a life expectancy chart is misleading, and frankly, it’s offensive.

It’s like telling a person that their parents were not so great
because they passed away too young.
“I beg your pardon?”

Let’s take a look at those stats.
First, life expectancy is way, way up overall. Everywhere.
In the USA, you can expect to live about 8 years longer now than you could in the 1970’s.
Your average life expectancy is 40 years longer than you could have hoped for if you were born at the beginning of the 20th century! 40 years longer!
In fact, throughout the history of Mankind, the average life expectancy has been only around 40 years old… most people died before 40… until this last century.

Thanks, America!

Advances during the last hundred years have been largely driven by the efforts of the United States, through improvements in hygiene, waste disposal, water management, immunizations, pharmacological and surgical advances. Free market motivation, American innovation, and altruistic dedication.

Our entire world has benefitted from the advances made in the USA.
How quickly some people forget.

An American medical education remains the most respected in the world, with many countries reaching out to our healthcare leadership and experience to guide their own efforts. There are foreign physicians training in every major medical center in our country. They are the lucky ones to be able to train here and they will tell you so. We lead the world in success rates in almost every mode of treatment and procedure. For example, the USA has the highest breast cancer survival rates in the world. And more than three-quarters of American women are screened for cervical cancer, more than in any other country.
May God continue to bless our greatest national treasure, American women.

Here’s another point: Life expectancy is largely driven by genetics.
Any biologist can tell you that the great diversity of race that makes America strong also affects our nation’s life expectancy rates. When all other variables are filtered out, people tend to live about as long as genetic tendencies guide. So comparing these numbers in the USA with, let’s say, Japan, Sweden, or Switzerland, the gene pool plays a significant role.

There are other factors in the life expectancy calculations.
For example: Violence and Auto Accidents.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2013:
More Americans die each year from suicide, around 40,000/year,
than die from motor vehicle accidents, around 35,000/year.

Our leading causes of death, heart disease and cancer, are more dramatically influenced
by a person’s lifestyle choices than healthcare intervention. Diet, exercise, smoking, and hope can affect these diseases far greater than acts of medicine.

We have access to more options of healthcare diversity than any country in the world. Our freedom to choose our own personal path to better healthcare is astounding.
Alternative, Chiropractic, Homeopathy, Spiritual, Naturalistic, Evidence-Based, Academic.
Take your pick. Blend them all if you choose. America’s healthcare remains the best in the World. It’s just up to you to use it wisely. Accountability, that’s the best option.

My final point.
When did the length of life become the measure of healthcare quality?

Healthcare is better measured by our vibrance, passion, and joy.
Our bodies are meant to be used, our minds tested, our muscles strengthened.
Run, walk, eat well, breath, study, pray, laugh, age.
Fill your years, however many years you may have, with love and curiosity.
There is no greater place than America to do so.
Ignore the naysayers and statisticians, let them be buried in Slovenia.

We have the greatest healthcare system in the world.

Guy L Culpepper, MD