Kerby Anderson

Most of us grew up believing that the life expectancy of Americans would increase every year. After all, advances in medicine should almost have guaranteed that to be the case.

That is why it is so shocking that American life expectancy declined in 2015. It was even more shocking that it declined again in 2016. And I predict that it will once again decline in 2017, once all the facts and figures are in.

Our lifestyles, in many cases, are the reason for the decline. Poor eating habits and little exercise come to mind. But it also appears that suicides and drug overdoses account for even more of the continued decline in life expectancy.

The suicide rate hit a 30-year high three years ago and continues to climb. The overdose numbers are staggering. More Americans died of overdoses last year than were killed during the entire course of the Vietnam War. Many of those who died (42,000) were due to opioid overdoses that exact a great toll on younger and middle-aged Americans.

Consider this contrast: the US spends more on health care than just about any other country. Life expectancy is rising in most developed countries. Our life expectancy continues to decline.

Of course, we can spend more money on programs dealing with addiction and build quality rehabilitation facilities. But sadly money doesn’t always translate into better outcomes. We probably all know wealthy families that spent lots and lots of money for treatment and programs in order to help their kids. Often it was to no avail.

Addictions of any kind are hard to break. They destroy lives and empty souls.  The gospel and faith-based programs have something to offer, but they are only effective if an addict wants to quit and has a caring committee around him or her. Even then, they aren’t always effective. That is why America’s life expectancy is declining.