Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of

Unchanging Truth.

For the Colston Center, I'm John Stone Street.

According to a CDC report released in December, the life expectancy of Americans fell by about

seven months during 2021, reaching the lowest point in two decades.

Although researchers expected a major drop in the wake of COVID-19, many industrialized

nations have seen signs of recovery.

However, the U.S., despite spending more on healthcare than any other nation, continues

its trend in the wrong direction.

More importantly, while COVID-19 remains a leading cause of death in the U.S., deaths

from cancer, diabetes, kidney disease, and drug overdoses increased over the last year.

In fact, even if the COVID-19 death numbers are to be believed, this downward trend in

the life expectancy of Americans predates the pandemic.

Back in 2019, a report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association detailed

trends in U.S. life expectancy over the previous 60 years.

The general trend, Joe Akabok summarized at the time in the Washington Post, was that life

expectancy improved a great deal for several decades, particularly in the 1970s, and then

slowed down, leveled off, and finally reversed course after 2014, decreasing three years

in a row.

To put that in context, the last time that life expectancy had decreased three straight

years in the United States was during World War I and the Spanish flu.

And the spiral has continued since, as has the contributing factor of what are often called

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