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"Men who are among the richest 1% of Americans live almost 15 years longer than those who are in the poorest 1%, the Harvard analysis found." 15 years is a tre

"Men who are among the richest 1% of Americans live almost 15 years longer than those who are in the poorest 1%, the Harvard analysis found." 15 years is a tremendous gap!

throwawayhhakdl 7y ago
Their health may be better, but the 15 years is because the poor are being killed by things like overdosing, not natural longevity.
snarf21 7y ago
Absolutely true. Also, I was disappointed that the article didn't mention opioids. It seems like that would have a huge impact on all life expectancy in the US over the last several years.
ptah 7y ago
yip, i think the drop is mainly due to the poor getting poorer
patentatt 7y ago
The poorest 1% is an extreme outlier cohort in America. Some sources from a cursory search suggest it’s something like less than $2 a day.
- chrisweekly 7y ago
  haven't looked at the data, but I'd guess a similar gap exists if comparing the top 1 or 2% to the bottom 5-10%...
- ErikAugust 7y ago
  Yes it would be interesting to see if it extends to poorest 5% at least. However I would assume the poorest 1% would be covered by social security.
  - dredmorbius 7y ago
    Covered by != having effective access to. The first is a legal and regulatory status. The second requires knowledge of, access to, capability of negotiating system(s), having a sufficiently fixed address, documentation, and numerous other factors.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
mongol 7y ago
It is an interesting quote but leaves so much out. Where is the difference happening? Gradually between top 1 and bottom 1 percent? Or sharply somewhere in the middle? I think the way this difference is framed is not helpful. An example of where graphs are both more informative and more objective than text.
humanrebar 7y ago
Let's not get too excited about causation there, though. Being about to die isn't a good way to stay rich in many, many dimensions. And rich people obviously aren't guaranteed longer lives. In other words, it's a shocking statistic, but I'm not sure what to do about it since both wealth and health are influenced by so many other things, including each other.
kungito 7y ago
15% isn't really that much. It's the difference between 65 and 80 which when you account for the rising chance of mental health issues after 65 is even less of a difference. I'm honestly worried that the richest still die before 100. Am I too old to be the generation that lives to 200?

"Men who are among the richest 1% of Americans live almost 15 years longer than those who are in the poorest 1%, the Harvard analysis found." 15 years is a tremendous gap!

throwawayhhakdl 7y ago

Their health may be better, but the 15 years is because the poor are being killed by things like overdosing, not natural longevity.

snarf21 7y ago

Absolutely true. Also, I was disappointed that the article didn't mention opioids. It seems like that would have a huge impact on all life expectancy in the US over the last several years.

ptah 7y ago

yip, i think the drop is mainly due to the poor getting poorer

patentatt 7y ago

The poorest 1% is an extreme outlier cohort in America. Some sources from a cursory search suggest it’s something like less than $2 a day.

chrisweekly 7y ago
haven't looked at the data, but I'd guess a similar gap exists if comparing the top 1 or 2% to the bottom 5-10%...
ErikAugust 7y ago
Yes it would be interesting to see if it extends to poorest 5% at least. However I would assume the poorest 1% would be covered by social security.
- dredmorbius 7y ago
  Covered by != having effective access to. The first is a legal and regulatory status. The second requires knowledge of, access to, capability of negotiating system(s), having a sufficiently fixed address, documentation, and numerous other factors.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

mongol 7y ago

It is an interesting quote but leaves so much out. Where is the difference happening? Gradually between top 1 and bottom 1 percent? Or sharply somewhere in the middle? I think the way this difference is framed is not helpful. An example of where graphs are both more informative and more objective than text.

humanrebar 7y ago

Let's not get too excited about causation there, though. Being about to die isn't a good way to stay rich in many, many dimensions. And rich people obviously aren't guaranteed longer lives. In other words, it's a shocking statistic, but I'm not sure what to do about it since both wealth and health are influenced by so many other things, including each other.

kungito 7y ago

15% isn't really that much. It's the difference between 65 and 80 which when you account for the rising chance of mental health issues after 65 is even less of a difference. I'm honestly worried that the richest still die before 100. Am I too old to be the generation that lives to 200?