Via ThinkProgress, the National Academy of Sciences reports on the very real cost to America that a lack of universal access to health care has created. Along with smoking and obesity, being uninsured lowers life expectancy and is killing Americans.
Over the last 25 years, life expectancy at age 50 in the U.S. has been rising, but at a slower pace than in many other high-income countries, such as Japan and Australia. This difference is particularly notable given that the U.S. spends more on health care than any other nation. Concerned about this divergence, the National Institute on Aging asked the National Research Council to examine evidence on its possible causes.
Three to five decades ago, smoking was much more widespread in the U.S. than in Europe or Japan, and the health consequences are still playing out in today’s mortality rates, the report says. Smoking appears to be responsible for a good deal of the differences in life expectancy, especially for women. The habit also has significantly reduced life expectancy in Denmark and the Netherlands, two other countries with lower life expectancy trends than comparable high-income countries....
Obesity’s contribution to lagging life expectancies in the U.S. also appears to be significant, the report says. While there is still uncertainty in the literature about the magnitude of the relationship between obesity and mortality, it may account for a fifth to a third of the shortfall in longevity in the U.S. compared to other nations, the report says. And if the obesity trend in the U.S. continues, it may offset the longevity improvements expected from reductions in smoking....
Lack of universal access to health care in the U.S. also has increased mortality and reduced life expectancy, the report says, though this is a less significant factor for those over age 65 because of Medicare access.
The "best health care system in the world" isn't creating the longest-lived or healthiest people in the world, by a long shot. It's a known fact that universal access to healthcare makes for a healthier population. While the Affordable Care Act doesn't achieve universal access, it still makes a significant improvement upon the status quo. Full repeal takes that access away, and dooms millions of Americans to an earlier death. Full repeal would also mean that widespread programs promoting healthier lifestyles--like smoking cessation and weight control programs--would be nothing more than a memory. They like to call the ACA the "job-killing" law. One could more truthfully call repeal the "American-killing" bill.
(An aside for the Social Security reform zealots who insist that we have to raise the retirement age because our population is aging and is going to be living so much longer: Oh, really?)