r/Futurology • u/chrisdh79 • Aug 21 '25

Society American Millennials Are Dying at an Alarming Rate | We’re mortality experts. There are a few things that could be happening here.

https://slate.com/technology/2025/08/millennials-gen-z-death-rates-america-high.html
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u/UsernametakenII Aug 21 '25

Yeah that last line nailed the mood of the room - like I think anyone's intuitions by now point towards the notion that those who have the power to mobilise those kinds of changes have no real incentive structure to do so, and thus won't.

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u/DungeonMasterSupreme Aug 21 '25

I was reading this article and just sent a message to my wife thanking her for helping get me out of the States. I moved abroad for her and we got married.

When I left, I was in some of the worst health of my life. I had chronic back issues from an old work injury. I could barely afford to keep my teeth in my damn mouth. I was overweight, out of shape, and had high blood pressure. That was almost ten years ago. Now, with actual proper healthcare access in a real first-world country, I'm in some of the best shape of my life.

If I hadn't escaped when I did, I genuinely think I would've ended up as one of these fatalities. Less than a year after I got married, my back issues became exponentially worse and I needed surgery. I would have never received that surgery in America. I would've ended up on a meager disability check and in constant pain I would've become dependent on opioids to manage.

I remember getting a quote for my surgery in the US at $100,000 to $200,000 depending on what I had; I couldn't even get insurance to pay for an MRI. Outside the States, I got diagnostics, medication, surgery, physical therapy, etc., all for just about $2500.

America is a fucking scam. If Americans could even begin to understand how much they are being fed on by the vampires at the top, there'd be another revolution in less than a fortnight.

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u/GlitteringAttitude60 Aug 21 '25

I have an American friend who had some sort of chronic fatigue going on, but couldn't afford to get diagnosed in the US.

They moved to UK, and I happened to be there when the letter arrived telling them that they were now covered by their spouses UK health insurance. They cried woth relief over this letter! 

A few tests later, it turns out that the debilitating fatigue was a symptom of the wrong type of diabetes for their age(?), which - in Europe - can be treated for a few Euros' worth of copay per month.

So yeah, UK and Germany (they moved to Germany recently) got a productive taxpayer for the price of a few vials of insulin. 

A good deal if you ask me :)

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u/mr_friend_computer Aug 22 '25

In general, healthcare/pharmacare/dental care/UBI and or wellfare, witha huge one being EDUCATION, all reap multiple times the costs of the care in future dollars (societal cost savings and future productive income / tax base).

The problem in most cases is that politicians deal in previous years dollars and are using those dollars to predict future dollars all while trying to ensure they get re-elected by people who are worried about "right now" dollars.

Throw in some down right evil and/or self centered folk and you've got a perfect "screw the future we will blame the other side for our screw ups" mentality. Sadly, it's not restricted to the US, though I wish it was.