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If you ignore relatively high U.S. rates of violence, traffic accidents and the like, does the U.S. have the world’s highest life expectancy? Betsy McCaughey, the former lieutenant governor of New York and outspoken opponent of Democratic health-care reform schemes, made that argument last week on the Daily Show.

On September 22, 1993, President Clinton, in an impassioned address to a joint session of Congress, unveiled his Health Security Act to the American people. He laid out six principles: security, simplicity, savings, choice, quality and responsibility, and explained in unambiguous language how each of these principles were embodied in the Health Security Act. Clinton, despite his failings, which were only human failings, had something that Obama didn’t have although he thought he did and many in the media gave him credit for having. Clinton truly had a transformational vision for health care and that vision was masterfully expressed in...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, often the harbinger of bad news about e. coli outbreaks and swine flu, recently had some good news: The life expectancy of Americans is higher than ever, at almost 78. Discussions about life expectancy often involve how it has improved over time. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, life expectancy for men in 1907 was 45.6 years; by 1957 it rose to 66.4; in 2007 it reached 75.5. Unlike the most recent increase in life expectancy (which was attributable largely to a decline in half of the leading causes of death...

IF I went to a Democratic town hall, I'd probably boo, too. Hence, accord ing to various Democrats and supporters of ObamaCare, I'm paranoid and just a bit unpatriotic. Well, let me dilate on my paranoid treachery for a moment. Under the plan discussed at President Obama's infomercial-esqe town halls, America would cut costs and expand coverage while avoiding rationing. Apparently, it's paranoid to think that's too good to be true. Imagine you're in charge of bringing pie to a company picnic. You're planning to provide dessert for 100 people. Then, your boss says you need to hand out pie...

Want to live to a ripe old age? By far the most important factor in life expectancy is wealth; richer people tend to eat healthfully and smoke and drink less. They also have access to the best health care. Affluent countries also tend to have low rates of violent crime and civil unrest. The following countries have the highest average life expectancies in the world. In case you're wondering, the United States, with an average life expectancy of 77.85, ranks 48th. Get started now and see the list of countries with the highest life expectancy. 1. Andorra: 83.51 Years Located...

Lies, damned lies and statistics. One of the more deceitful arguments for socialized medicine hinges on the assertion that Americans don’t live as long as citizens in other industrialized countries because we don’t provide health care for everyone. The press is complicit in this prevarication by running stories like this one from the AP: "WASHINGTON—Americans are living longer than ever, but not as long as people in 41 other countries. For decades, the United States has been slipping in international rankings of life expectancy, as other countries improve health care, nutrition and lifestyles. Countries that surpass the U.S. include Japan...

Last week, the National Center for Health Statistics announced that the average life expectancy for Americans has risen to an all-time high of 78 years. In addition, record high life expectancy was recorded for both white males and black males (76 years and 70 years, respectively) as well as for white females and black females (81 years and 76.9 years). This is obviously good news. But a question nags—why are people in other countries living longer on average than Americans? After all, we are the country that spends the most money per capita on health care. For example, according to...

WASHINGTON — New government research has found “large and growing” disparities in life expectancy for richer and poorer Americans, paralleling the growth of income inequality in the last two decades. Life expectancy for the nation as a whole has increased, the researchers said, but affluent people have experienced greater gains, and this, in turn, has caused a widening gap. One of the researchers, Gopal K. Singh, a demographer at the Department of Health and Human Services, said “the growing inequalities in life expectancy” mirrored trends in infant mortality and in death from heart disease and certain cancers. The gaps have...

The 2007 Human Development Report says Iceland now leads annual United Nations Index. Iceland has narrowly passed Norway to take the top spot on the Human Development Index (HDI), according to the 2007/2008 Human Development Report (HDR) released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today. Norway had held the number one ranking for the previous six years. This change in ranking is a result of new estimates of life expectancy and updated GDP per capita figures, stress the Report authors. Introduced with the first HDR in 1990, the HDI assesses the state of human development through life expectancy, adult...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Americans are living longer than ever, but not as long as people in 41 other countries. For decades, the United States has been slipping in international rankings of life expectancy, as other countries improve health care, nutrition and lifestyles. Countries that surpass the U.S. include Japan and most of Europe, as well as Jordan, Guam and the Cayman Islands. "Something's wrong here when one of the richest countries in the world, the one that spends the most on health care, is not able to keep up with other countries," said Dr. Christopher Murray, head of the Institute...

Share this with All your Friends... And SHOW this to your children and grandchildren !!!! THE YEAR 1907 This will boggle your mind, I know it did mine! The year is 1907. One hundred years ago. What a difference a century makes! Here are some of the U.S. Statistics for the Year 1907: ************************************ The average life expectancy in the U.S. Was 47 years old. Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. Had a bathtub . Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone. A three-minute call from Denver to New York City Cost eleven dollars. There...

Media: Communist regimes are known to falsify and distort statistics, but they rarely get away with it unless Western media play along. They scored a big hit recently with data about Cuba's storied life expectancy. In a widely distributed news story, the Associated Press last week explained why Cubans were living such long, healthy lives under their 47-year totalitarian dictatorship. Taking the word of Cuban officials, it credited the island's "mild climate," "free medical care" and "low-stress Caribbean lifestyle." Right on cue, CBS gave "thanks to the socialist island state's free health-care system" that's there so "fortunately." But media claims...

Source: JAMA and Archives Journals Date: March 17, 2007 Black-white Life Expectancy Gap Narrows, But Remains Substantial Science Daily — Reductions in the death rate from homicide, HIV disease, unintentional injuries - and among women, heart disease - have contributed to narrowing the life expectancy gap between blacks and whites in the United States, although substantial inequalities and challenges remain, according to a study in the March 21 issue of JAMA. Life expectancy at birth has generally been increasing in the United States since at least the late 19th century. For as long as data have been reported by race/ethnicity,...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - George Johnson, considered California's oldest living person at 112 and the state's last surviving First World War veteran, had experts shaking their heads over his junk food diet. "He had terrible, bad habits. He had a diet largely of sausages and waffles," Dr. Stephen Coles, founder of the Gerontology Research Group at the University of California, Los Angeles, said Friday. The 5-foot-7, 140-pound Johnson died of pneumonia Wednesday at his Richmond home in Northern California. "A lot of people think or imagine that your good habits and bad habits contribute to your longevity," Coles said. "But...

Americans' longevity hits new highCDC: Life expectancy rose to 77.9 years in 2004, deaths dropped By Kristen Gerencher, MarketWatch Last Update: 11:43 AM ET Apr 21, 2006 SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Shore up those retirement-account contributions. Americans are living longer than ever before, according to preliminary data the government released this week. The total number of deaths declined by almost 50,000, or 2.4%, from 2003 to 2004, the largest one-year drop in several decades, according to a preliminary report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. The last time the number of deaths fell...

The media now interrupt their regularly scheduled fear-mongering to report good news: life expectancy is up. The Free Market Project has documented the media’s scare campaigns on everything from bird flu to obesity, global warming, and even Heelys, a brand of roller skate-sneakers for kids. But sometimes even a blind squirrel finds a nut. All three broadcast networks found time in the April 19 evening newscasts to nibble on the new numbers released by the federal government. “We have news here tonight about life and death in America, and it is all good news,” “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams...

ATLANTA -- In what appears to be an amazing success for American medicine, preliminary government figures released Wednesday showed that the annual number of deaths in the U.S. dropped by nearly 50,000 in 2004 -- the biggest decline in nearly 70 years. The 2 percent decrease, reported by the National Center for Health Statistics, came as a shock to many, because the U.S. is aging, growing in population and getting fatter. In fact, some experts said they suspect the numbers may not hold up when a final report is released later this year. Nevertheless, center officials said the statistics, based...

The life expectancy of men and women in several African countries has fallen below 40, due to poverty and disease. The 10 countries in the world with the lowest life expectancies all are African, according to UN study reported on by the BBC. Zimbabwe has the world’s lowest life expectancy, with women expected to live until 34 and men until 37. The life expectancy for women dropped by two years in the last year. The UN report found that Swaziland and Sierra Leone have life expectancy rates below 40 as well. Low life expectancy rates in Africa are attributed to...

STANFORD, Calif. -- A Stanford University professor says the average life expectancy for people living in most industrial nations could reach 100 years old within the next 25 years. The biology and demographics professor says advances in anti-aging technology and treatments for diseases such as cancer could push the average life expectancy from just under 80 years old to 100 years old by 2030. Shripad Tuljapurkar presented his latest work on life expectancy last month at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Saint Louis.

The age of retirement should be raised to 85 by 2050 because of trends in life expectancy, a US biologist has said. Shripad Tuljapurkar of Stanford University says anti-ageing advances could raise life expectancy by a year each year over the next two decades. A longer life could mean a longer working life That will put a strain on economies around the world if current retirement ages are maintained, he warned. He also told a science meeting in St Louis that 50-year or 75-year mortgages may not be unusual in the future. Dr Tuljapurkar was speaking at the American...

As the first of the 75 million baby boomers touch 60 in January, there's good news for the men: They are catching up to women in life expectancy. A new "Longevity Index" by Credit Suisse First Boston shows that while women still live four years longer on average, men are gaining twice as fast in the age race. Medical experts say women are working harder, smoking more and undergoing more stress, which leads to the No. 1 killer -- heart disease. "We are getting equality in ways we may not want," said Dr. Sharon Brangman, a board member of the...

ATLANTA - After a century of nearly uninterrupted medical improvements and longer lives, it looks like the baby boomers could screw things up. A new government study shows deaths from heart disease, cancer and stroke continue to drop, but it also shows that half of Americans ages 55 to 64 _ including the oldest of the baby boomers _ have high blood pressure, and two in five are obese. This means that this large group of aging Americans is in worse shape in some respects than those born a decade earlier were when they were the same age. Medical improvements...

By MIKE STOBBE Associated Press Writer Dec 08 1:57 PM US/Eastern ATLANTA - U.S. life expectancy has hit another all-time high _ 77.6 years _ and deaths from heart disease, cancer and stroke continue to drop, the government reported Thursday. Still, the march of medical progress has taken a worrisome turn: Half of Americans in the 55-to-64 age group _ including the oldest of the baby boomers _ have high blood pressure, and two in five are obese. That means they are in worse shape in some respects than Americans born a decade earlier were when they were that age.

HDI Rank Country Life expectancy at birth (years) (HDI) 2003 1 1 Norway 79.4 2 Iceland 80.7 3 Australia 80.3 4 Luxembourg 78.5 5 Canada 80.0 6 Sweden 80.2 7 Switzerland 80.5 8 Ireland 77.7 9 Belgium 78.9 10 United States 77.4 11 Japan 82.0 12 Netherlands 78.4 13 Finland 78.5 14 Denmark 77.2 15 United Kingdom 78.4 16 France 79.5 17 Austria 79.0 18 Italy 80.1 19 New Zealand 79.1 20 Germany 78.7

...In short, what do we want from our health-care system? As Americans, we expect it all. We expect: (1) The highest standard of care; (2) continued innovation, and (3) broader access to new technologies at a lower cost. It's possible to achieve two of these three goals. Which, then, can we do without? Will we accept less than optimal care? Will we accept a significant slowdown in medical progress? Will we say, implicitly or explicitly, "80 is long enough for a person to live?".... Some critics contend that the largely private system in the U.S. is more costly and less...

North Korea has said the country’s average life expectancy declined by 5.5 years between 1993 and 2002, from 72.7 years to 67.2 years, apparently due to food and medicine shortages. According to a population report Pyongyang submitted to the UN, life expectancy for men declined from 68.5 years to 63.1, while that for women dropped from 76.1 years to 71. However, North Korean statistics are notoriously unreliable. According to World Health Organization figures, life expectancy in South Korea was 73 years for men and over 80 for women. North Korea also said its natural birth ratio was 96.4 percent. According...

Researchers report that the current obesity epidemic will have a negative impact on life expectancy in the United States. University of Illinois at Chicago researchers report in the New England Journal of Medicine that obesity will cut between two to five years off life expectancy in the next 50 years. Currently, the team said obesity reduces life expectancy by up to nine months. U.S. life expectancy is currently 77.6 years and the predicted decline due to obesity represents more than the impact of cancer and heart disease Longevity researcher Dr. Jay Olshansky said today's younger generation will have shorter and...

Some scientists predict that today's children will be able to live for more than 1,000 years. Is immortality just around the corner? Bryan Appleyard peers into a hair-raising future without death Somewhere in the world today lives a child who will change everything. Imagine this child is called Sally. Today is her 11th birthday. She lives in Esher in Surrey. Her parents are happy and wealthy. All her grandparents are old, alive and well. I’ve given her this background for specific reasons. Sally is a girl because women live about five years longer than men. She is 11 because, at...

US Senator Barack Obama on Thursday called President George W. Bush's suggestion that African-Americans could reap greater rewards from overhauling Social Security a 'stunning' arguement that ignored the true health issues facing blacks in the country.As the president launched his two day tour through the South to build support for his controversial plan to revamp Social Security, Democrats challenged a White House assertion that blacks could gain from Bush's proposed private retirement accounts because they have fewer years to collect benefits considering that they die younger. 'It is puzzling to me that we are even having this debate about whether...

Life expectancy is increasing in the developed world. But Cambridge University geneticist Aubrey de Grey believes it will soon extend dramatically to 1,000. Here, he explains why. Ageing is a physical phenomenon happening to our bodies, so at some point in the future, as medicine becomes more and more powerful, we will inevitably be able to address ageing just as effectively as we address many diseases today. I claim that we are close to that point because of the SENS (Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence) project to prevent and cure ageing. It is not just an idea: it's a very...

Life expectancy is increasing in the developed world. But Cambridge University geneticist Aubrey de Grey believes it will soon extend dramatically to 1,000. Here, he explains why. Ageing is a physical phenomenon happening to our bodies, so at some point in the future, as medicine becomes more and more powerful, we will inevitably be able to address ageing just as effectively as we address many diseases today. I claim that we are close to that point because of the SENS (Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence) project to prevent and cure ageing. It is not just an idea: it's a very...

BANGKOK, Thailand, July 15 (UPI) -- The 2004 Human Development Index produced by the United Nations shows the pandemic of AIDS, often exacerbated by poverty and civil strife, has eroded life expectancy in seven African nations to levels that rival the lowest points in human history. In the Central African Republic, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, a child born in 2004 would not be expected to see his or her 40th birthday. "In all these countries AIDS is reversing the hard-won gains of recent decades," said Elizabeth Lwanga, deputy director of the U.N. Development Programme's Regional Bureau for...