Max Nisen, Columnist

Cancer Isn't the Only Thing Killing Americans

Big drops in cancer mortality rates are worth celebrating, but they stand in sharp contrast with many persistent and worrisome health trends.

January 13, 2020 at 1:00 PM UTC

By Max Nisen

Max Nisen is a healthcare analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. He previously wrote for Bloomberg Opinion, Quartz and Business Insider.

American life expectancy trails other developed nations and outright declined in recent years. — American life expectancy trails other developed nations and outright declined in recent years.
Photographer: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Science Photo Library RF/Getty Images

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Americans got some fantastic health news last week: Based on the latest data, U.S. cancer deaths are plunging at the fastest rate ever.

The finding came in a report released Wednesday by the American Cancer Society, which attributed the decline to a reduction in smoking, which has lowered lung-cancer mortality rates, as well as advances in surgery and diagnosis and the arrival of new and effective medicines. Even better, those numbers come from 2017 and should improve with expanded use of the latest drugs and technology.