Since 1941, US suicide rates have soared high when compared to those of 2022, according to CDC reports. The highest suicide rate recorded ever was back in 2022.

After two consecutive years of decline, the US suicide ratio are again rising which shows an overlap with the kickoff during Covid-19.

CDC’s most recent data on US suicide

According to the most recent data from CDC reports (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention- National Center for Health Statistics), the age-adjusted suicide rate was 14.2 deaths per 100,000 in the year 2022. It made a total of 49,476 people in the same year.

This suicide rate was similar to that in 2021 and 2018, which accounted for a high level of US suicide rate when compared with 1941. With a closer look into the statistics, a 30 percent rise was noted from the rate 10.9 per 100,000 in 2002 with a 5 percent drop that occurred between 2018 and 2020.

The Associated Press’ views on the current scenario

The Associated Press was of the view that with CDC data, more than 49,300 suicides were reported in 2023 based on the CDC reports, which could still increase in the coming days. The CDC figures remain high, as told by the Associated Press, which was close to the figures of 2022.

US suicide rates, gender-wise

Among males, the suicide rate increased 4.5 percent, which means that there were 22 deaths per 100,000 in 2022 and it became 23 per 100,000 in 2022.

Among females, the rate was even higher; a rise of 7.2 percent showing an increment of 5.5 to 5.9 deaths per 100,000 for the same time period.

The overall suicide rate for males was four to five times higher than for females from 2022 to 2018.

The matters became worse

Based on the data findings of 2021, suicide was the 11th leading cause of death in the United States. The matters took a serious turn and suicide became the second leading cause of death in just one year, 2022. This rate was even higher for the age group 10-14 years and 20-34 years. It was the third leading cause for the age group 15-19 years for the same year’s data.

Other details revealed that US suicide ratio increased among both men and women for the ages 25 years and above from 2020 to 2022. The same rate decreased for males for the age group 14, 15, and 24 years. The rate was the same for the females of the same age.

The most notable type of suicide is…

Firearm-related suicide was on top for both men and women in 2022. Firearm-related suicide was 31 percent for males when it reached 10.3 deaths per 100,000 in 2006. The rate further soared to 13.5 deaths per 100,000 in 2022, which was unaltered from the rate of 2021.

Possible reasons of suicide

The contributing factors are still unknown for a high US suicide rate, however, a study published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, in January, revealed that increased access to prescription drugs and worsening US economic conditions might possibly be the risk factors for such an alarming state in the US in recent years.

Also, with easy access to drugs, opioids remain the key reason for women to end their own lives. Diminishing federal restrictions is raising eyebrows about the current situation which seems deteriorating and uncontrollable in the next few years.

Another research explored the same reasons and the results showed that declining mental health due to greater use of social media and escalated possession rate of firearms are two prime reasons for greater suicide rates in US adolescents.

Daniel Simon, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology and research affiliate said, “We contend that the US federal government’s weak regulatory oversight of the pharmaceutical industry and tattered social safety nets have significantly shaped US suicide risk”.

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It happened in 2019 when a fentanyl-laced pill took the life of a young sophomore who came to buy a prescribed painkiller. Instead, the man gave fake pills containing fentanyl, a lethal synthetic opioid that could prove fatal with a dose as small as 2 milligrams.

Hours later, the young female customer, Alexandra Capelouto, 20, was found dead in her California home. In reality, she came to buy Percocet. The man was later identified as a drug dealer, Brandon McDowell who is now behind bars since 2022.

What are fentanyl-laced pills?

Fentanyl-laced medicines are claiming the lives of thousands of people in the US. The overdose of these synthetic opioids has been witnessed among minors in the last five years. According to the data released by the US Centers for Disease and Prevention, more than 74,000 people died of these pills only in the year 2023.

The drug dealer has been imprisoned for the past two years. However, now the young female customer’s parents have won an additional judgment against him for their daughter’s death. They claimed $5.8 million against the man.

The deceased Alexandra’s family

Alexandra’s father, Matt Capelouto said, “We’ve won the battle, not the war. We still have a long way to go in terms of holding drug dealers accountable for deaths”.

Alexandra’s father explained it was not enough for him and his wife as they had been struggling since death to deal with their child’s wrongful death. His wife is already suffering from stage four breast cancer, which has been hard on them as well.

The lawyer’s remarks

Capeloutos’ lawyer, Baruch Cohen said that to his knowledge, this is the first time that a drug dealer has been held responsible for taking the life of a civilian, particularly for selling synthetic opioids to minors.

The lawyer said, “Here’s the hope that this judgment will be the shot that’s heard around the world so to speak”. He was of the view any other drug dealer would think twice before selling fentanyl-laced Tablets to minors as he would know that not only years of imprisonment but millions of dollars would be at stake.

McDowell, now 25 years old, was charged with nine years of incarceration for an offense with a minimum of a 20-year sentence. His crime was linked to the injury or death of a person since he had the intent of carrying fentanyl-laced Tablets around in order to sell it. He was first pleaded guilty in 2022 in the federal court in California.  

After hearing the final decision, Alexandra’s father remarked that the sentence wasn’t fair to him. He thought that a total of 20 years imprisonment should have served the drug dealer right and he would still make sure that “justice was served”.

McDowell, the drug dealer’s bankruptcy

Previously, McDowell had filed for bankruptcy whereas Capeloutos parents won a judgment of $5 million against him. The Superior Court of Riverside County stated that he definitely had the intent of selling harmful narcotics with “willful and malicious” aims which resulted in Alexandra’s death.

Judge Mark Houle imposed a fine of $5 million on McDowell with an additional interest that adds up to the total amount. The interest is charged for a year and a half, accounting for up to $5.8 million.

A couple of months later, Capeloutos filed another case to ensure that the drug dealer did not escape his debt even after his bankruptcy.

Their lawyer, Mr Cohen guaranteed that a bankruptcy case does not waive him off of the charges since bankruptcy is for honest people and not drug dealers like McDowell. The lawyer confirmed that they would “haunt him for the rest of his life”. He would not be able to make money, especially out of drugs, since they’d ruin what he earned in the future and would put a lien on whatever property he would buy.

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Experts are highly doubtful about Trump healthcare plan that he pitched as an “affordable health law” but does not seem compelling, they say.

Even after eight years of threats to repeal Obama’s Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as “Obamacare”, the upcoming Presidential candidate Donald Trump does not know where and how to go about it.

Experts are of the view that if they have not seen any progress in his previous tenure, they are highly skeptical that it would happen in his second administration if he is successfully elected.

Where is the Trump healthcare plan?

During the Presidential debate held on Tuesday night with Kamala Harris, Trump said, “I have concepts of a plan” to replace Obamacare and he promised to do it at any cost.

He assured that his team is working on different things and looking into different strategies to come up with the best ever healthcare plan, even greater than the Affordable Care Act. He emphasized that he could not compromise the health of his people and would introduce something affordable at lesser costs and he “would absolutely do it”.

A new Trump healthcare program is now the talk of the town since a more affordable health law is desired more than ever for the US people. With the escalating healthcare prices, United States citizens now have to pay twice as much costs for healthcare as anywhere in the world.

The executive vice president Larry Levitt of health policy at KFF, a nonprofit group, said, “Right now, Obamacare is the status quo in health care. An ACA replacement would involve trade-offs and winners and losers and you can bet that the losers would scream loudly”.

What happened to Obamacare

The Affordable Care Act or Obamacare has successfully provided quality healthcare coverage to approximately 50 million Americans. It constitutes up to 1 in every 7 Americans for the past 10 years. Based on the data for the year 2024, a high record of 21 million people registered for ACA which comprised 5 million new sign-ups for the coverage.

However, sadly, Trump was against his political opponent’s healthcare plan. ACA had to be repealed on April 27, 2020 when the Supreme Court ruled out ACA insurers and became entitled to full payment of the plan. Their creditors had to pay more than $12 billion in accrued claims under the ruling of Maine Community Health Options vs. United States.

What happened to Obamacare then? The administration was severely criticized for the results for which Trump thought he might curb public anger by offering a better Trump healthcare program in the future. The citizens were already sad that Trump did not think of “little people”.

Any options?

A professor of health policy and medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine said that there are various options available at the hands of Republicans in Congress that are great competing ones. Each plan would have its own implications, putting either a relief or a burden on the shoulders of the consumers.

Trump needs to be careful of how he should take things further, especially after he had promised to bring something better on the platter, he remarked.

The future of US healthcare seems dubious

Larry Levitt further explained that US healthcare reforms need a detailed but structured plan that should contemplate reducing healthcare costs. If the government wants to reduce its spending on healthcare then the burden would be transferred to the families, which would increase their costs, Levitt said.

The results would be devastating for the people since healthcare coverage would be out of reach for them and fewer people would be left who would be actually able to pay hefty amounts for insurance coverage, Levitt predicted.

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