America’s death rate rose in 2015, according to the National Center for Health Statistics — one of the few times it has in the past 25 years. Meanwhile, Americans are paying more and more for health insurance thanks to a certain Democrat law. In 2014, the death rate was 723.2 people for every 100,000. Last year that rate ticked up to 729.5 deaths. The preliminary data, while not complete, suggests suicide, drug overdoses and Alzheimer’s disease are driving the spike.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researcher Andrew Fenelon said, “We are not accustomed to seeing death rates increase on a national scale. We’ve seen increases in mortality for some groups, but it is quite rare to see it for the whole population.” According to Fenelon, this comes at a time when Europe’s mortality rate is dropping.

Of course, ObamaCare is here to save the day, right? Requiring people to pay much, much more for health insurance will help them live longer, happier lives, the Obama administration’s line goes. Yet with the death rate rising, health insurance premiums are skyrocketing right along with it. Americans in just five states saw the price of premiums drop last year. For Americans in 12 other states, sticker shock came in the form of more than 20% increases on premiums. We in our humble shop yearn for the 8-10% increases of the pre-ObamaCare days.

Part of the reason is decreased competition. Insurance companies find themselves unable to compete in the ObamaCare marketplace and, therefore, leave. The survivors jack up prices. But hey, all this mandatory insurance is causing the health industry to grow, thanks to the government’s decree.

> Editor’s Note: The original post said Europe’s “morality” rate is dropping. While unintentional, we could have said, “If the shoe fits…”