According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), in 2014 there was a huge increase in sexually transmitted diseases in the United States.
The CDC estimates that nearly 20 million new STD infections happen each year in the U.S., with the majority affecting 15 to 24-year-olds.
Reports of gonorrhea and syphilis also increased in 2014. There was a 2.8% increase in chlamydia since 2013, and reports of syphilis, which has three stages, increased for the most infectious stages of the disease by 15.1%.
One of the reasons for this rise in STDs is the war being waged on public health in this country over the last couple of decades.
The increase in STDs is in many ways a result of cuts in funding to public health clinics, Gail Bolan, director of CDC’s Division of STD Prevention, told NBC.
"Most recently, there have been significant erosions of state and local STD control programs," Bolan said. "Most people don't recognize that the direct clinical care of individuals with sexually transmitted diseases is supported by state and local funds and federal funds."
This leads to men and women not getting tested and treated early, before further infections occur. As the CDC report notes, it’s not particularly economic to cut our public health and then have to pay it out on the other end.
STDs are a substantial health challenge facing the United States. CDC estimates that nearly 20 million new sexually transmitted infections occur every year in this country, half among young people aged 15–24, and account for almost $16 billion in health care costs. Each of these infections is a potential threat to an individual’s immediate and long-term health and well-being. In addition to increasing a person’s risk for acquiring and transmitting HIV infection, STDs can lead to severe reproductive health complications, such as infertility and ectopic pregnancy.
[emphasis mine]
Our health care system only kinda works if young people, on average, don’t get so sick that they cost the system too much money, thus affording us older folk the right to get old and sickly without having to eat cat food. Sixteen billion dollars is a lot to spend on something that is usually cured with a shot, and can be prevented by latex.
You can read the CDC’s report here.