Study links inequality to large, growing gap in lifespans

And Republicans are pushing the eligibility age for social security higher.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-04/miot-sli041116.php

Public Release: 11-Apr-2016
Study links inequality to large, growing gap in lifespans
In unprecedented detail, lifespan gap shown to be large and growing rapidly
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Poverty in the U.S. is often associated with deprivation, in areas including housing, employment, and education. Now a study co-authored by two MIT researchers has shown, in unprecedented geographic detail, another stark reality: Poor people live shorter lives, too.

More precisely, the study shows that in the U.S., the richest 1 percent of men lives 14.6 years longer on average than the poorest 1 percent of men, while among women in those wealth percentiles, the difference is 10.1 years on average.

This eye-opening gap is also growing rapidly: Over roughly the last 15 years, life expectancy increased by 2.34 years for men and 2.91 years for women who are among the top 5 percent of income earners in America, but by just 0.32 and 0.04 years for men and women in the bottom 5 percent of the income tables.

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Among other things, the growth of the gap in mortality rates -- by nearly three years -- struck the researchers as noteworthy. To put it in perspective, they note that federal health officials estimate that curing all forms of cancer would add three years to the average lifespan.

"That change over the last 15 years is the equivalent of the richest Americans winning the war on
At the same time, the researchers are quick to point out that the findings cannot immediately be reduced to simple cause-and-effect explanations. For instance, as social scientists have long observed, it is very hard to say whether having wealth leads to better health -- or if health, on aggregate, is a prerequisite for accumulating wealth. Most likely, the two interact in complex ways, something the study cannot resolve.
cancer," Stepner observes.

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"As you go up in the income distribution, life expectancy continues to increase, at every point," Stepner says.

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"Things like Social Security aren't going to be as redistributive if the richer people are getting paid for 10 more years than the poorer people," she says.

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