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Plunging test scores are a slow-moving catastrophe

207 points · 414 comments · vinni2

Animats · 1790450510 · focus · HN ↗
Plunging physical fitness test scores are even worse.[1] "Fat people don't make good soldiers … they get themselves or others hurt or killed." The US military says 31% of US youth are too fat to serve. 77% are not qualified for one or more reasons.[2]
Only 12% of American male youth who are qualified for the military are not in college.
Think about that. About 2/3 of American male youth are not good enough for either college or the military. That's a high reject rate.
[1] <a href="https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/10/10/one-third-youths-too-obese-military-service-study-finds.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/10/10/one-third-you...
[2] <a href="https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/09/28/new-pentagon-study-shows-77-of-young-americans-are-ineligible-military-service.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/09/28/new-pentagon-...
1. armchairhacker · 1790451202 · focus · HN ↗
  Why don’t governments pay for free GLPs for everyone overweight? They overrepay for themselves by reducing medical care.
  1. dpkirchner · 1790451784 · focus · HN ↗
    Hell, let's just reduce the Medicare eligibility age (alllll the way down) so everyone can afford the care they need or would benefit from.
    parineum · 1790453029 · focus · HN ↗
    Medicare is currently something like 14% of the budget and covers 20% of the population.
    supertrope · 1790453273 · focus · HN ↗
    The least healthiest 20% of the population. Old people use much more medical care.
    parineum · 1790471977 · focus · HN ↗
    Personal healthcare spending is estimated to have been 4.5T in 2024. [1] Total revenue was 4.9T that year. [2]
    [1] <a href="https://nchsdata.cdc.gov/dqs?topic=personal-healthcare-spending&topic_id=111160&subtopic=all-personal-health-care&group=&subgroup=&range=2023-to-2024&estimate=number-of-dollars-in-billions&subtopic_id=610090" rel="nofollow">https://nchsdata.cdc.gov/dqs?topic=personal-healthcare-spend...
    [2] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_federal_budget" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_federal_bud...
    oklahomasports · 1790458835 · focus · HN ↗
    to be fair if everyone was paying 10-20k less in private healthcare thorough their employer you could tax that amount

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