3 things contributing to the U.S. drop in life expectancy

Dr. Harry L. Reeder III 11 months ago

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Read the transcript:

MULTI-YEAR LIFE EXPECTANCY DROP NOT SEEN SINCE ’60s

TOM LAMPRECHT: Harry, statistic out of World Magazine: “U.S. Life Expectancy in 2016 Drop for The Second Straight Year.” An Average Adult can now expect to live 78.6 years with a five-year gap between life spans of men and women. This multi-year drop is the first since 1962 and 1963. Bob Anderson of The National Health Center for Health Statistics told reporters he cannot say whether a trend is developing, but he is worried about the steady mortality rate among opioid addicts.

If 2017 had another increase in such deaths, it could signal a third straight drop in life expectancy data for the first time since the Spanish Flu epidemic 100 years ago.

BIBLICAL AND HISTORICAL LENS

DR. REEDER: And what’s very interesting now, from a Biblical world and life view on that item, Tom, how our Lord, after the flood, declared that man would live 70 – three score plus ten or four score by “reason of strength and very healthy.” The average has increasingly moved toward what the Lord said.

In other words, prior to the flood, man, who was made to live forever, because of sin now has the curse of death. And so, you see this genealogy in the Old Testament where each seceding generation – except for one or two exceptions – of those listed in the early genealogy of humanity live less years and there is a decreasing.

Then you get to the flood and it’s now decreased dramatically. And, after the flood, the Lord says that it is going to decrease even more dramatically – which it does within a generation – and it decreases down into, historically, the 30s, the 40s, the 50s. A 50-something year old man, 300 years ago, was an old man because of the destruction of diseases that the curse of sin has brought into this world.

But then, in his common grace, gives us medicine, gives us an understanding of His creation laws and we begin to bring the influence of compassion and care, the infant mortality rate goes down, we have inoculations. Western civilizations’ influence, which was influenced by Christianity in the Reformation, you have this rising of the life expectancy so that we have increasingly come close to what the Lord had ordained and had prophesied as it were, that is, three score and ten and four score by reason of strength.

THE PAST 100 YEARS IN AMERICA TRENDED UP

Now, there have been blips on the screen in the last couple of hundred years where it has reversed itself and gone the other way. You just mentioned one, the early ‘60s, that most people associate with what then was called “the Asian Flu” that ravaged the world. About 100 years ago was the previous time where you had multiple years of decreasing life expectancy and almost everyone agrees with the analysis that was because of the Spanish Flu.

Social Security was designed when the life expectancy was in the upper 60s and retirement at 65 so you would get your checks for three or four years. Well, now, people are living up closer to 80. You actually have the statistics for men and women, particularly.

TOM LAMPRECHT: Yeah, right now, men, 76.1 years, women, 81.1 years.

DR. REEDER: That gap is closing between men and women and a lot of people feel it’s because of the changes of lifestyle of men and women with the egalitarian movement – they now have the blessing of dying quicker.

WHAT’S CAUSING THE DECREASE?

We look at this movement of a multi-year decrease, why is it? Well, I would suggest three things that are contributing to it.

— First, a loss of focus upon valuing life and, thereby, protecting life, preserving life and caring for life which results in extending life through the medical profession. We now are hiring doctors to kill us. Now, I’m not saying that the number of assisted suicides – and mandated suicides, in some nations – but I do believe, when you get a Hippocratic Oath that tells you, “You will do nothing to harm life,” and now you have taken the medical profession, not simply to harm life, but to end life, that has an effect throughout all of the medical profession, making it much more of a formal profession then a professional calling.

Doctors, like ministers, were seen with a calling in the past that was life-oriented: ministers as the physicians of the soul and doctors as physicians of the body, but all valued life. I think that loss of valuing life is showing up in the medical care that’s given and the way it’s given and the advancements that are no longer being made because of the increasing socialization and governmental control of health care.

— The second thing that I would mention, right now, since Roe v. Wade, we have killed over 60 million children. Now, Tom, if you take the statistic of 60 million plus over these last years of the results of Roe v. Wade, my goodness, what would that statistic then look like? How many lives we have taken that were unborn, but yet were lives made in the image of God?

— And then, Tom, let me mention a third area in the news article that you pointed us to – in our society of escapism, in our society of Libertarianism, in our society of moral relativism and self-absorption, we now have gateway drugs such as marijuana leading people through the gate of drug use, prescription drug addictions, cocaine, heroin, and various other mechanisms of increased addiction.

And please know that in my generation that experimented with marijuana, the marijuana that came from the plants of my generation and the cultured marijuana of this generation is night and day in terms of its destructive powers.

And now we have this opioid addiction that is devastating. We have certain states, particularly in the northeast, that are being absolutely devastated by this. And opioid users are usually dying at young ages so I think the article was right to point us in that direction. While we don’t have a flu epidemic, we do have an opioid epidemic and that is, again, the result of our cultural devolution.

DOES ABORTION FACTOR IN?

TOM LAMPRECHT: Harry, is it possible the statistics are actually worse than what we’re seeing? And I say that because, when you look at abortion, how many kids are diagnosed in the womb of having some flaw and the doctors recommend an abortion so the parents don’t have to worry about it.

DR. REEDER: People are going to push back and say, “Well, we don’t count abortions.” My point is the very act, itself, has an effect upon how we are dealing with life and how we value life and let me give you an example of that. Tom, do you remember, recently, that horrific church shooting in Sutherland, Texas?

Well, there was a big debate because you would look at articles – and I can’t remember the exact numbers, I should have done some research but let me just go ahead and use some numbers and I think I’m accurate – some reports said 28 had been killed and some said 27 had been killed and a paper said, “Who was right on those statistics?” Those who used the number 28 were acknowledging the fact that one of the people killed was a young woman who was pregnant and, when she died, the baby died.

Now, what’s interesting is, in our secular world and life view, we don’t count that as a life but, in the province of God, He counts it as a life, which is why there was a penalty upon those who would take the life of a woman with child in the Old Testament – they were guilty of a capital crime when they had done that against the child or if they had caused the death of a child because that is a person that is there.

Which, again, Tom, is why many of us continue to remember on the Sanctity of Life Sunday the horrific issue that abortion is and what it is doing to the soul of a nation, as well as to the lives of unborn children and women in crisis pregnancies.

TOMORROW’S FOCUS: CHRISTIANS IN PERSECUTION

TOM LAMPRECHT: Harry, on Wednesday’s edition of Today in Perspective, another set of statistics are in and they’re not good. The number of Christians murdered across the world in persecution, more than 3,000 in 2017.

DR. REEDER: Approximately 10 percent of professing Christians live in nations that are in the top ten of persecuting Christians – 1 out of every 10 of my brothers and sisters in Christ wake up every day in fear of governmental enforced and approved death because they are a Christian. What does the Bible say that we’re to do with that? May I ask our listeners to read a text and join us tomorrow? Read Hebrews 13:3 and I’ll see you tomorrow.

Dr. Harry L. Reeder III is the Senior Pastor of Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham.

This podcast was transcribed by Jessica Havin. Jessica is editorial assistant for Yellowhammer News. Jessica has transcribed some of the top podcasts in the country and her work has been featured in a New York Times Bestseller.

Sean Ross 11 hours ago

Hoover protest leader calls for nationwide boycott of all stores, restaurants with locations at Riverchase Galleria

Carlos Chaverst, Jr., the president of the Birmingham Justice League and self-proclaimed leader of protesting in Hoover, on Tuesday called for a nationwide boycott of all stores and restaurants with locations at the Riverchase Galleria.

In a press release, Chaverst said, “In addition to protests resuming throughout the City of Hoover, The Justice League is attempting to coordinate efforts with grass roots organizations all over the country to boycott the stores and restaurants that are inside the Riverchase Galleria if their demands for justice and transparency are not answered! Those stores include Bath & Body Works, Belk, Dave & Busters, Express, Gap, GNC, H&M, JC Penney, Macy’s, Old Navy, Sears, Victoria’s Secret, and Von Maur just to name a few.”

He called this “broadening the scope of the boycott,” while adding protests will continue “escalating.”

Chaverst has been the face of protests since a Hoover Police officer shot and killed Emantic “E.J.” Bradford, Jr. on Thanksgiving night at the Galleria.

Chaverst listed the following demands in his Tuesday press release:

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1. We want those individuals who knowingly lied about the events of Thanksgiving night leading to the murder of Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford, Jr. to resign or be terminated immediately!
2. We want Hoover to ask for a Justice Department investigation into its own police department for mistreatment of minorities (citizens AND officers on the police force).
3. We want a “Citizens Review Board” with subpoena power created by the City of Hoover.
4. We want to know the status (paid or unpaid?) of the officer that killed “EJ” Bradford and we want the City of Hoover to keep it’s word of having weekly updates.

To be clear, while Hoover officials apologized for initially misidentifying Bradford as the shooter of an 18-year-old and 12-year-old at the Galleria on the night of his death, there has been no public assertion by the Bradford family or their attorney that officials “knowingly lied.”

It should also be noted that Chaverst has accused the city of not sending out a weekly update this week, hence his last point in demand number four. However, the city and the police department did in fact issue that update as a joint press release on Monday, which was reported by Yellowhammer News and outlets across the state.

The investigation into Bradford’s death and the entirety of the Galleria tragedy is currently entirely out of Hoover’s jurisdiction and control, with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s (ALEA) State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) handling the case.

While Chaverst spearheads the protests themselves and acts as the public face of “the movement,” the Nation of Islam’s Birmingham leader, student minister Tremon Muhammad, is leading the boycott as part of a greater “war.”

In addition to Chaverst’s press release, he also took to Facebook to request that people donate money and items to the protesters, including bandanas, facemasks, first aid kits and “healthy snacks.”

Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn

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Sean Ross 14 hours ago

Proposed Waters of the United States guidelines praised as good for Alabama farmers, landowners

Federal officials proposed new Waters of the United States (WOTUS) guidelines on Monday to help protect farmers and landowners from intrusive government regulations, per a release from the Alabama Farmers Federation.

In their proposal, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers clarified federal authority under the Clean Water Act.

Alabama Farmers Federation President Jimmy Parnell applauded the newly proposed definition, which excludes ditches from regulation unless they contribute flow to a perennial or intermittent stream.

“The proposed rule is good news for Alabama farmers and restores common sense to Clean Water Act enforcement,” Parnell said.

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He continued, “For several years, farmers, businesses and homeowners have lived under the threat of government intrusion and costly penalties due to overaggressive actions of the Obama-era EPA. We appreciate the Trump administration, current EPA administration, Alabama’s congressional delegation and our state attorneys general for standing by farmers and landowners as we’ve fought back against the WOTUS rule.”

Under the proposal, federally regulated areas would include traditional navigable waters, tributaries to those waters, some ditches, certain lakes and ponds, impoundments of jurisdictional waters and wetlands adjacent to jurisdictional waters.

The proposal also details non-waters of the U.S., such as areas that only contain water during or in response to rainfall, many ditches (including most roadside or farm ditches), prior converted cropland, stormwater control features and waste treatment systems.

Great news from @EPA & @USACEHQ, who today proposed to revise the burdensome #WOTUS rule. The proposal would provide long-overdue, much-needed clarity for American farmers and small businesses, while maintaining well-established protections for lakes and rivers.

— Richard Shelby (@SenShelby) December 11, 2018

American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall also thanked the EPA and Corps for investing time in a common sense rule that will allow farmers to comply with the law while protecting water resources.

“Clean water is our way of life. Preserving our land and protecting our water means healthy places to live, work and play,” Duvall outlined. “We believe this new Clean Water Rule is rooted in common sense. It will protect our nation’s water resources and allow farmers to farm.”

Today’s announcement is the second part in a two-step process to review and revise the definition of WOTUS consistent with President Donald Trump’s February 2017 executive order. The first step was initiating a repeal of the Obama administration rule, which was put in place in 2015 but is only in effect in 22 states because of a barrage of state lawsuits challenging it.

Various courts upheld the challenges and postponed the law from going into effect within the boundaries of a bevy of states, including Alabama.

A 60-day comment period on the second part of the process, proposing the revised rule, is now underway.

The EPA and the Corps will hold an informational webcast January 10 and will then host a listening session on the proposed rule January 23 in Kansas City, Kansas.

Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn

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Greg Reed 15 hours ago

Greg Reed: A Medicaid program built around families and communities

The elections of November 6 are over, and now, in Washington and in Montgomery legislators again take up the task of governing. As the leader of Alabama’s 27 Republican state senators, my focus is on working with other lawmakers and Governor Kay Ivey to make state government more efficient and to keep job growth strong.

Reforming the state’s Medicaid program is one of the toughest challenges we face in the coming year. Medicaid, the federally-mandated health insurance program for pregnant women, children, low-income adults, the elderly and the disabled, is by far the largest line item in the state’s General Fund — Medicaid by itself accounts for 37 percent of all non-education state spending and its budget for the current year is $755 million. For context, state prisons consume 23 percent and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (state troopers) uses 2.5 percent of non-education spending.

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The aging of America’s population as the Baby Boomers retire puts enormous stress on government-run health insurance programs like Medicaid. About 10,000 Boomers retire every day, and the U.S. Census Bureau predicts that by 2035, the number of adults aged 65 and older in America will outstrip the number of children under the age of 18. In Alabama, the population of folks aged 65 and older is expected to grow by 25 percent between now and 2025. This coming demographic tidal wave threatens to swamp a number of government programs, including Medicaid.

For the past five years, I have worked with Medicaid Commissioner Stephanie Azar to craft a new health care model that better serves the growing number of senior citizens in Alabama who are in Medicaid’s long-term care. Thankfully, this year Alabama received approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Washington to move ahead with the Integrated Care Network (ICN). This reform will offer senior citizens on Medicaid additional health care choices and is projected to save, over the long run, tens of millions of taxpayer dollars.

Here is how the ICN will work: in October of this year, the state Medicaid agency partnered with an Alabama health care provider that will now serve the medical needs of the 23,000 senior citizens who are receiving Medicaid’s long-term care services, 70 percent of whom are in nursing homes. By partnering with an expert health care provider based in Alabama, Medicaid can offer its long-term patients better care — and thus allow more Medicaid recipients to stay longer in the comfort of their own home.

Medicaid recipients can still opt for a nursing home, and no benefits are changed under this new system. But by partnering with a health care provider that is an expert in managed care, Medicaid can bend the cost curve down, offer improved health care, and give more of Alabama’s senior citizens an opportunity to stay a little longer in their homes and communities.

For my wife and me, one of the greatest privileges in life is spending time with our parents — and as the years have passed, we, like so many Alabama families, have discussed the future and begun to plan for the day when our parents will need additional help.

As a legislator, I think often about how the policies that I vote on will affect the lives of my friends and neighbors. The Integrated Care Network is just getting started, but I am optimistic that this reform will improve the quality of life for many families in Alabama and put Medicaid on a sounder financial footing.

Greg Reed (R-Jasper) is the Alabama Senate Majority Leader and represents Senate District 5, which is comprised of all or parts of Winston, Walker, Tuscaloosa, Jefferson and Fayette counties.

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Sean Ross 16 hours ago

Sessions makes first speech since resigning as attorney general, still supports Trump’s agenda

MONTGOMERY — Speaking at the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce’s 146th annual meeting on Tuesday, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions delivered his first public remarks since leaving President Donald Trump’s administration.

Despite his forced resignation and having been on the raw end of several Trump tweets and public comments this year, Sessions graciously made clear that he still supports the work the president is doing, praising the administration’s successes and some ongoing agenda items in a roughly 20-minute speech. He did not directly address speculation that he could run to return to the United States Senate in 2020.

He did, however, add some levity to the situation, with the crowd of approximately 600 enjoying a few trademark Sessions jokes.

“I’ve had a few ups and downs in the last two years,” Sessions remarked while thanking Bishop Lawson and Cheryl Bryan, who were in attendance. “And every now and then, it’s good to know your bishop is praying for you.”

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A couple of minutes later, Sessions spoke on some federal issues of note.

“On the Make America Great Again front, I will cite these words from Friday’s Wall Street Journal: Wage growth matched the highest rate in nearly a decade and unemployment held at its lowest rate in nearly half a century at 3.7 percent. This is the lowest rate since 1969,” Sessions outlined.

He continued, referring to his wife sitting some yards away from him, “That’s when Mary and I married – 1969.”

Sessions then spoke about the benefits of getting people working again across the nation, while saying that the workforce participation rate still needs improvement.

“So, personally, I’m attempting to chill out a bit,” Sessions said, transitioning away from speaking on the economy.

“You can be sure that I don’t follow the tweets as closely as I used to,” he added to great laughter and a smattering of applause.

Sessions added, “Having served in the Department of Justice for almost 15 years plus 20 on the [Senate] Judiciary Committee, I well knew that AG’s frequently face difficult choices and decisions which, almost inevitably, create some controversy. But this very public adventure, I gotta say, exceeded my expectations.”

The former attorney general and United States senator then continued to emphasize that he remains supportive of Trump and their shared agenda.

“I’m proud of President Trump’s policy agenda and to have had a part in it,” Sessions said. “He is driven to succeed and much of his frustration arises from his inability to move the bureaucracy to achieve what he believes oughta be achieved fast enough.”

Perhaps quoting Kanye West for the first time, Sessions commented, “[Trump] has dragon energy. Think that’s a good description of it, really.”

He then talked about his “love” for the Department of Justice, outlining the successes of his tenure in a similar manner to his speech in Hoover this fall.

“I poured my heart into our work and was pleased to be able to advance the president’s policies, which were my policies and good for America,” Sessions explained.

After listing some of the many accomplishments of his time as attorney general for several minutes, Sessions said that the DOJ’s recent work was just one way that “the rule of law” was being affirmed.

“First, and of monumental importance, the president continues to nominate the best group of highly qualified federal judges ever, in my opinion,” Sessions advised. “These judges understand that they adjudicate under the constitution – they’re not above it. And they know they are to be neutral umpires.”

In a timely manner with Tuesday’s announcement that Ben Shapiro will speak at the University of Alabama during the spring, Sessions also touched on his support of free speech on campuses.

“We’ve defended free speech on campus. Goodness gracious, [it’s] hard to believe the attacks on speech on campus,” Sessions said.

After getting into the weeds a little on more ways the DOJ defended the constitution under his watch, Sessions concluded his remarks.

“[W]e have the greatest legal system in the history of the world,” Sessions outlined. “This government, and especially the attorney general, must give his best effort every day to uphold and defend this heritage we have been so blessed to receive.”

“To that end, as God has given me the ability, I have been dedicated. I am satisfied our work has met the highest standards. Thank you for your friendship, your understanding, your support and for allowing me to represent the great people of this fabulous state. I love it. And of the United States. Thank you all and may God bless America and God bless this great state,” he concluded.

Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn

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Dale Jackson 16 hours ago

Ledbetter: Around a ’75 percent’ chance higher gas tax passes

The gas tax may be a foregone conclusion if you listen to the leadership of the Alabama legislature.

Infrastructure needs are undoubtedly a priority heading into the next legislative session; how they get addressed is the battle we will see fought out.

A gas tax of up to 12 cents a gallon has been discussed, but according to Alabama House Majority Leader Nathaniel Ledbetter, the target for a tax increase in Alabama is more likely to be in the six to 10 cent range, which could raise between $180 million and $300 million dollars a year.

While appearing Tuesday on WVNN’s “The Dale Jackson Show,” Ledbetter was optimistic about the chances of the tax passing legislation.

Without any particular promises made, he referred to the need for a “clean bill” that he believes makes the passage easier.

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In spite of that desire, there are pressing needs in every part of the state and constituents will want their needs addressed, but he agreed that every caveat carved out weakens the bill and makes it less likely to pass.

In the interview, Ledbetter signaled a strategy that will be unveiled to convince Alabama voters that a gas tax increase isn’t that bad and surrounding states have higher taxes so we should increase ours as well, arguing it would be a “reasonable” tax.

Ledbetter stated, “You know Georgia did 26 on gas, 29 on diesel with a five dollar lodging fee.”

“We’re not gonna do that,” he added.

Ledbetter then continued to point out Alabama’s higher tax neighbors, “Tennessee put 10 cents on, Louisiana put 18 cents on. I think we’re going to be more reasonable with what we do and we need to do it for the right reasons.”

A strategy for the gas tax is being unveiled before our eyes: using county commissioners to lobby legislators for a higher gas tax and compare Alabama’s taxes to our neighbors.

Will it work? Ledbetter said there is around a 75 percent chance it will.

Listen:

@TheDaleJackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 am weekdays on WVNN

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