Life expectancy in the United States is lower than other wealthy nations despite spending more on healthcare than any other country in the world. However, scientists have highlighted a simple policy change may increase population-level longevity across the U.S. by over 2 years.
Wealth inequalities in the U.S. have been steadily increasing. Today, the wealthiest 10 percent of U.S. households hold 71 percent of the nation's wealth, while the poorest 50 percent fold less than 2 percent. Racial wealth inequalities are also increasing, with white households earning, on average, nearly 6 times that of Latine households and nearly 7 times that of Black households, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Federal Reserve.
These inequalities are particularly concerning because wealth is known to be positively associated with longevity. So, could wealth redistribution even out the playing field and extend average lifespans across the nation?
Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital think so. In a recent study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, the team analyzed a sample of 35,164 participants over the age of 50 and found a marked contrast in longevity between those with low and high wealth. Indeed, they determined that this difference corresponded to a 13.5-year difference in survival.
However, from their calculations, a simulated wealth distribution of perfect equality would increase the median longevity across the population by 2.2 years, fully closing the mortality gap between the U.S. and the average life expectancy in other wealthy countries.
Even the most modest redistribution proposal saw a significant improvement in median longevity, increasing by 1 year across the U.S. population. For this simulation, the team used the concept of baby bonds, a policy whereby every baby born in the U.S. would receive a $1000 deposit in an interest-bearing account, with further deposits of up to $2000 per year based on their household's income to poverty ratio.
"Our findings are concordant with prior studies that showed that wealth is associated with better health, including reduced cardiovascular disease and asthma, and higher self-rated health," the authors write.
"Wealth may improve health via several mechanisms, including facilitating residence in neighborhoods with better-funded schools, more robust infrastructure, and greater access to healthy food; increasing workers' agency to choose safe employment; enhancing access to medical, dental, long-term, and home health care; and increasing leisure time to engage in health-promoting activities."
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Pandora Dewan is a Senior Science Reporter at Newsweek based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on science, health ... Read more
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