Freedomain Radio - Stefan Molyneux - Americans 65 and Older Are Sicker Than Ever
Aired: 2025-03-08
Duration: 05:54


=== Chronic Conditions Among Seniors (05:54) ===

[00:00:00]  So, let me see.
[00:00:07]  Sorry, I have to throw in percent here.
[00:00:08]  It's a crazy percent.
[00:00:10]  It's a crazy percent.
[00:00:11]  Oh, yeah.
[00:00:11]  Here we go.
[00:00:12]  Here we go.
[00:00:12]  I found it.
[00:00:15]  94.9% of adults age 60 and over have at least one chronic condition.
[00:00:23]  Right?
[00:00:23]  So, 19 out of 20 adults age 60 and older have at least one chronic health condition.
[00:00:29]  And 78.7% have two or more.
[00:00:34]  Isn't that wild?
[00:00:38]  42% of adults 60 and older are obese.
[00:00:43]  Not overweight.
[00:00:44]  Obese.
[00:00:48]  Isn't that wild?
[00:00:50]  So what do we got?
[00:00:51]  10 common chronic conditions for adults 65 plus.
[00:00:54]  Hypertension, high blood pressure, high cholesterol.
[00:00:57]  Obesity, arthritis, ischemic coronary heart disease, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, heart failure, depression, Alzheimer's disease, and dementia.
[00:01:06]  Oh my god.
[00:01:10]  And this is up considerably from the past.
[00:01:16]  No, it's absolutely, it's crazy how sickly people are.
[00:01:21]  Now, you know, 70-75% of health issues are lifestyle-related, which means you chose.
[00:01:26]  You made bad choices and you got sick.
[00:01:37]  So people are like crazy unwell.
[00:01:43]  People are crazy unwell.
[00:01:50]  I mean, there's bone health issues.
[00:01:52]  There is, of course, the diabetes management.
[00:01:55]  Diabetes is going to take 15 years off your life, as far as I've read.
[00:01:59]  It's mad.
[00:02:00]  Now, I'm 58, so I'm getting there.
[00:02:04]  I'm getting there.
[00:02:05]  And, you know, maybe I'll have some issues, but nothing yet.
[00:02:11]  Nothing yet.
[00:02:12]  And of course, on average, a 65-year-old can expect to live another 18.9 million years.
[00:02:25]  Crazy.
[00:02:26]  27% of the U.S. adult population has multiple chronic conditions, which cost the American healthcare system over a trillion dollars each year.
[00:02:35]  It's the usual 90 to 95% of healthcare costs are 5 to 10% of the population and two thirds of your entire lifetime's healthcare costs are in the last couple of months of your life.
[00:02:51]  I did eight and a half hours of exercise last week because it's really, really important.
[00:03:00]  In 2022, 36.3% of older adults had not seen a dentist in the last year.
[00:03:05]  Now, I used to go every three months.
[00:03:07]  Now, I go every four months.
[00:03:08]  You just have to take care of your teeth.
[00:03:17]  One in five adults age 65 plus have untreated dental caries or cavities.
[00:03:22]  I don't know why they're...
[00:03:23]  Put that way, one in four older adults have a behavioral health problem such as depression, anxiety, or substance abuse.
[00:03:29]  People aged 85 plus have the highest rates of suicide compared to any other age group.
[00:03:34]  In 2020, over 11,000 adults aged 65 plus died from alcohol-induced causes.
[00:03:39]  Oof.
[00:03:40]  Oof.
[00:03:41]  Let me tell you.
[00:03:42]  People are sick.
[00:03:44]  Just sick.
[00:03:45]  And what is it about is only one or two percent of the U.S. healthcare budget is spent on prevention?
[00:03:50]  Of course!
[00:03:50]  Of course, because chronic diseases make money.
[00:03:53]  And so waiting until people get sick and then medicating them forever is by far the most profitable model for the healthcare system as it exists.
[00:04:11]  By 2060, almost a quarter of the population is going to be 65 or older.
[00:04:18]  Flu, is it flu or pneumonia that's called the old man's benefit, a benefactor?
[00:04:25]  It's really something.
[00:04:27]  Yeah, people are like crazy unwell.
[00:04:30]  People are just crazy, crazy unwell.
[00:04:33]  You know, you don't see...
[00:04:42]  I mean, and of course, when you see really old people, they tend to be very skinny, right?
[00:04:45]  You don't see old fat people.
[00:04:52]  Percent of non-institutionalized persons with hypertension measured high blood pressure or taking high blood pressure medication.
[00:04:58]  This is from 2017 to March 2020. Men aged 65 to 74, almost 72%.
[00:05:04]  Men aged 75 and older, 83.2%.
[00:05:07]  Women aged 65 to 74, 73.7%.
[00:05:10]  Women aged 75 and older, 84.1%.
[00:05:13]  It's brutal.
[00:05:20]  And of course, I'm at the age where people's health decisions are really catching up with them.
[00:05:29]  People's bad health decisions are really, really catching up with them.
[00:05:37]  Social isolation and loneliness is a big problem.
[00:05:40]  People who have hearing loss tend to get a little bit more dementia.
[00:05:43]  People who are isolated and lonely have high risks of dementia, serious health problems, and so on.
[00:05:50]  About 8 in 10 older adults struggle to use medical documents like forms or charts.