The Rich Live Longer Everywhere.
For the Poor, Geography Matters.
By Neil Irwin and and Quoctrung Bui
NY Times April 11, 2016
Here are some excerpts from the Times article:
For poor Americans, the place they call home can be a matter of life or death. New research, has an optimistic message: The right mix of steps to improve habits and public health could help people live longer, regardless of how much money they make.
The top 1 percent in income among American men live 15 years longer than the poorest 1 percent; for women, the gap is 10 years. These rich Americans have gained three years of longevity just in this century. They live longer almost without regard to where they live. Poor Americans had very little gain as a whole, with big differences among different places.
It has long recognized that health care interventions have a much smaller effect on life span than behavioral factors like smoking and exercise. “There remains this misconception in our society that health is determined by health care,” A common thread among many of the places with a smaller longevity gap was population density, with wealthy cities like New York leading the way.
It may be good to know that poor Americans are living a lot longer in some places than in others, but it would be better to know — in terms of specific policy prescriptions — how the places with better results are doing it.
The Times article is based on a report in JAMA (April 10, 2016):
The Association Between Income and Life Expectancy in the United States, 2001-2014 FREE ONLINE FIRST
Raj Chetty, PhD et.al.