Live long and prosper

VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor

We all want to live a long and fruitful life, and of course this time of year, it’s only natural to spend a little time thinking of loved ones who are no longer with us.

I get about 50 emails a day. Most of them are pretty much spam or someone telling me how this service they offer can help us reach more people if we’ll pay them to make it happen. But sometimes I get really interesting stuff that isn’t necessarily “news” but I find worth mentioning, and luckily I have this column…

New research has revealed the “top” 10 U.S. states with the shortest life expectancy and Arkansas did not have a favorable showing with an average life expectancy of 73.8 years, which is the 6th shortest in the U.S. The “health experts” at NiceRx have revealed the results of the data, with the highest and lowest healthcare expenditures as well as those with the highest and lowest life expectancy and the longest and shortest hospital waiting times. All the data is from 2020, the most recent numbers available I suppose.

I don’t have the room to include the whole study, but if you like, you can view the full research online here:

See VIEWPOINT, page A5 VIEWPOINT

From page A4

https://www.nicerx.com/bes t-healthcare-countries/.

The 10 U.S. states with the shortest life expectancy, in case you were wondering, were: 1) Mississippi, 72.1; 2) West Virginia, 72.8; 3) Louisiana, 73.1; 4) Alabama, 73.2; 5) Kentucky, 73.5; 6) Arkansas, 73.8; 6 Tennessee, 73.9; 8) Oklahoma, 74.1; 9) New Mexico, 74.5; and 10) South Carolina, 74.8.

Now to me, I just find it fascinating (and a little depressing) that a big determining factor in how long you live is where you live. I mean, this isn’t a new idea to me or anything but I still don’t like it.

A few years ago I saw a similar report, only it was just about Arkansas and it was broken down by county and you can probably already guess which parts of the state had the lower life expectancy.

The Delta was much lower than the northwest corner of the state — and by a wide margin. Phillips County was around 70 and Washington County was pushing close to 80. It was literally a decade’s difference between the two.

The research I got today also revealed the following about Arkansas:

• The average emergency room wait time in Arkansas is 127 minutes.

• In 2020, Arkansas spent a total of $12.23 billion on healthcare expenditure.

Further findings from the study revealed the following about the US:

• The average life expectancy in the U.S. is 79.11 years. Of all the states, Hawaii has the longest life expectancy averaging 80.7 years.

See VIEWPOINT, pg. A13 VIEWPOINT

From page A5

• Maryland has the longest emergency room wait time of any US state with an average wait time of 228 minutes. In comparison, North Dakota has the shortest emergency room wait time, averaging 104 minutes.

• The average female life expectancy in the US is 81.65 years, which is almost 5 years longer than the male life expectancy at 76.61 years.

You can view the full research again by clicking here.

I don’t really have a big point to make here. I just wanted to share this with you as I we approach a new year and thought it might inspire someone to make some lifestyle choices that could help us do a little better in the rankings next time around.

Merry Christmas!