smoking, not healthcare

Here's an interesting take on the health care debate--an interpretation of the current state of affairs that actually employs analysis, study and scientific method.

The long and the short of it--this investigator claims that the relatively low life-expectancy for people in the US (vs other similarly rich countries) results from the lingering effects of our pre-1980s smoking habits. The article is a good example of how statistics can seem to say things they don't really say--and can say many, many, often contradictory, things at once.

I think the article also has an important point that's, unfortunately, buried deep in the science section of today's Times. Will anyone of any influence actually see this information? The previous president, we know, famously didn't read newspapers. Here's an example of why he really should have--and another reason we're better off with the new guy.