Middle-aged White American Men Death Rates Are Increasing

Middle-aged white American men death rates are increasing, and everyone else's death rates are going down:

If the white midlife mortality “had continued to decline at its previous (1979 - 1998) rate,” Case and Deaton estimate, “half a million deaths would have been avoided in the period 1999 - 2013, comparable to lives lost in the U.S. AIDS epidemic through mid-2015.”

As a result, the ratio of black to white mortality rates dropped from 2.09 in 1999 to 1.40 in 2013. Contrary to what many Americans may still believe, drug overdoses are no longer concentrated among minorities; in fact, among the 45-54 age group, drug-related deaths are now higher among whites.

Oh, but I forget, last year they revealed that middle-aged white American women death rates are increasing too.

So, what do the Republicans think? Mike Huckabee says no health insurance for people with preexisting conditions:

It sounds so good, and it’s such a warm message to say we’re not gonna deny anyone from a preexisting condition. Look, I think that sounds terrific, but I want to ask you something from a common sense perspective. Suppose we applied that principle [to] our property insurance. And you can call your insurance agent and say, “I’d like to buy some insurance for my house.” He’d say, “Tell me about your house.” “Well sir, it burned down yesterday, but I’d like to insure it today.” And he’ll say “I’m sorry, but we can’t insure it after it’s already burned.” Well, no preexisting conditions.”

Well, one logical end point about the burden of health insurance is to get rid of it entirely. The advent of genetic testing and large medical data bases means more people than ever have detectable pre-existing conditions. That minority of healthy people that have no pre-existing conditions at all don't really need health insurance, except maybe for accidents. People can buy their own health care as they need it. And if people get too sick to afford help, they can crawl under a freeway overpass somewhere until they feel better. No more "free stuff".

Even the racially-charged GOP should recognize that it is THEIR people who need health insurance, more than ever! But those folks don't make much money, so GOP presidential candidates need to attack them too.