•June 20, 2018•

By Wendell Potter
Rural Health News Service

Recent studies about health care in America show troubling trends, especially in states with large rural and relatively low-income populations.
While the United States continues to spend far more than any other developed country on health care on a per capita basis and as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), many states, especially in the south and Midwest, are losing ground in key areas that pertain to life expectancy.
The Commonwealth Fund’s just-released 2018 Scorecard on State Health System Performance confirmed what other recent studies have shown: Life expectancy in the United States is going down while it continues to go up in other developed countries. And rural areas seem to be disproportionately affected.
Some researchers have used one word to explain the sudden reversal in life expectancy trends in the United States: despair. That’s because of the rapidly rising number of suicides and deaths associated with alcohol and drug use in this country. The Commonwealth Fund reported that deaths from suicide, alcohol and drug use have increased 50 percent since 2005.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.