I heard a recent youtube talk by former NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg in which he claimed one of the greatest successes of his administration is that the length of t

I heard a recent youtube talk by former NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg in which he claimed one of the greatest successes of his administration is that the length of the average NYC life was extended 3 years. Most of this was accomplished by public health initiatives such as raising the cost of tobacco to about $12-$14 per pack through NYS and NYC taxes, banning smoking in public places, hard-hitting anti-smoking ads of about $1 to $2 per capita per year. Significant efforts were made to reduce air pollution. Bloomberg is also known in his attempts to limit sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) consumption by tax or banning the purchase with food stamp or limiting the size of fountain "Cokes" to 16 oz. These SSB attempts were unsuccessful, yet because of all of the publicity, the rate of New Yorkers who consumed at least 1 SSB per day dropped from 33% to 25%. The politicians focus on access to care rather than on public health.