[joe_the_user]

We're talking years of increased life expectancy.

Huh? Statins are a medication type in which increases in life expectancy are extremely hard to point to all. I think they're almost a "poster child" for medications that correct a problem to an extent but whose overall benefit is quite dubious.

(and given that these medications were highly prescribed before any long term studies were finish - creating considerable incentive for people to find benefit - I'd personally wager they are overall harmful but that's me guessing - the main point is they definitely aren't boost-life-expectancy-by-years drugs but probably aren't reduce-life-expectancy-by-years drugs either, given the studies)

Link from google: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3531501/

[pessimizer]

Every few years, the lobby inserts op-eds insisting that statins are of such indisputable benefit and zero side effects that they should go into the water supply. I understand this from the companies themselves, but I have no idea which studies are convincing normal people that this is sane.

There is no lobbying like the lobbying for massively selling classes of drugs of dubious effect.