The phrase "deaths of despair" gained wide use after economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton reported that life expectancy for middle-aged Americans without a college degree was falling due to rising suicides and deaths related to drugs and alcohol.
Quick take: Case and Deaton argue that the primary cause of the trend is economic, but in a new paper, economist Christopher Ruhm places the blame on drug price and availability.
More cities and counties are suing opioid manufacturers and drug distributors, alleging those companies instigated the opioid crisis through deceptive marketing and negligance. Executives of Cardinal Health, a major drug wholesaler, believe they have done the right things but won't rule out a settlement down the road.
What they said: "Down the line (if there is a) more potentially efficient way to go, there might be a settlement. But that’s probably going to be a long time off, and it’s really hard for me to quantify it at this point in time," Cardinal Health CEO Mike Kaufmann said at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco.
