From the National Center for Policy Analysis, a new way to think about inequality, but one that seems to have a ready remedy:
There is a steady increase in "mortality inequality" -- a
term for a widening gap in life expectancy -- between the richest and
poorest counties in the United States from 1983 to 1999, according to a
study released by researchers at Harvard University and the University
of Washington.
To judge from the cause-of-death data cited in the Harvard-Washington
study, the main driver of mortality inequality in the '80s and '90s was
the rise in diseases springing from personal behavior, says IBD:
o Deaths from smoking-related diseases -- lung cancer and
congestive heart failure (an effect of diminished lung
capacity) -- rose among the poor, especially for women.
o So did deaths from chronic diseases (such as diabetes)
related to obesity.
A bright side to this otherwise grim news is that the diseases most to
blame for the widening longevity gap are often preventable or
treatable, according to Christopher Murray, an author of the study.
Smoking- and obesity-related diseases, of course, are preventable by
personal choices, aided by education and encouragement. You don't
need access to high-cost doctors and hospitals to quit smoking, get
more exercise and eat less. Insurance is important, but it
doesn't give you a healthy lifestyle, says IBD.
In related news, employers are being given the right to discriminate ( in terms of health insurance and even employment itself) based on life style choices. One area where they will not be able to discriminate is on genetic issues, such as propensity to disease including cancer and heart disease.
