3 ms·

I wonder what has a bigger impact on longevity, lifestyle choices or being a multi-millionaire with access to the best healthcare.

Jtsummers 1y ago
Despite their wishes, most people won't become millionaires. The part you can control is your own lifestyle. For the average person, this means your lifestyle will have more impact on your longevity than wishful thinking about one day being a multi-millionaire who can hire doctors to fix the problems you created by being sedentary, eating poorly, and overindulging on alcohol or other substances.
viccis 1y ago
Wonder which is more realistic, address the horribly unhealthy eating patterns that are drilled into US citizens as soon as they start eating school lunches (if not before), or make all of us multi-millionaires with access to the best healthcare.
- hermannj314 1y ago
  If you're a news agency, promise your viewers that if they just get angry enough then that free healthcare will be coming soon and then show them an ad from McDonalds and Eli Lilly.
recursive 1y ago
You should also weight those with how practically attainable they are.
HardCodedBias 1y ago
Being a "multi-millionaire with access to the best healthcare" in the US means that you sit in the same queues as everyone else. The best you can do is concierge care, but that only expedites primary care everything in the US is about specialists.
- lazide 1y ago
  Hahaha, huh? If you have access to the best healthcare you definitely don’t wait in the same queues. You have direct access to the specialists, often at the best teaching hospitals too. If you have Medicare, good luck.
  - HardCodedBias 1y ago
    I don't know what you think "direct access to specialists" is. I have concierge medicine. I have two specialist appointments scheduled both take about 3mo. I can see my PCP within 1 day. That is good. I can have blood drawn within 1 day. That's good. Specialists, no advantage. This makes it not overly valuable, but what do you expect for 8k extra for year (on top of very good health care)? I don't know how to access a higher tier of health. Perhaps at 100M+ of net worth it appears. IDK.
    - lazide 1y ago
      Like Stanford pulmonologist in less than a week for an asthma eval. Meanwhile, my Mom waited months on Medicare for a heart eval due to arrhythmias. Whatever plan you have, it doesn’t sound top tier? This didn’t require high net worth, just a better plan through an employer - or you’re in an area with low specialist populations? Or some sort of low priority on a triage schedule? If you have mm net worth, the specialists come to you - quickly - unless you really need the .001% specialist. and chances are you they don’t and it’s not worth it. But even Kaiser had no issues giving less than a week access for anything important.
Maxatar 1y ago
Just doing a quick check on this, lifestyle choices slightly edges out net worth. Living what is called a "low-risk" lifestyle (don't drink, don't smoke, maintain healthy weight, avoid junk food) results in an average life expectancy of 90 (93 for women, 87 for men), compared to being in the top 1% which results in a life expectancy of 87 (86 for men, 88 for women). The overall average life expectancy in the U.S. is 78 (76 for men, 81 for women). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4866586/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4866586/ https://www.abom.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Impact-of-Healthy-Lifestyle-Factors-on-Life-Expectancies-in-the-US-Population.pdf https://www.abom.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Impact-of-He...
nradov 1y ago
Lifestyle choices have a far larger impact on average. The big gains in lifespan (and healthspan) come from delaying the onset of chronic disease rather than treating it after it occurs.

Jtsummers 1y ago

Despite their wishes, most people won't become millionaires. The part you can control is your own lifestyle. For the average person, this means your lifestyle will have more impact on your longevity than wishful thinking about one day being a multi-millionaire who can hire doctors to fix the problems you created by being sedentary, eating poorly, and overindulging on alcohol or other substances.

viccis 1y ago

Wonder which is more realistic, address the horribly unhealthy eating patterns that are drilled into US citizens as soon as they start eating school lunches (if not before), or make all of us multi-millionaires with access to the best healthcare.

hermannj314 1y ago
If you're a news agency, promise your viewers that if they just get angry enough then that free healthcare will be coming soon and then show them an ad from McDonalds and Eli Lilly.

recursive 1y ago

You should also weight those with how practically attainable they are.

HardCodedBias 1y ago

Being a "multi-millionaire with access to the best healthcare" in the US means that you sit in the same queues as everyone else. The best you can do is concierge care, but that only expedites primary care everything in the US is about specialists.

lazide 1y ago
Hahaha, huh? If you have access to the best healthcare you definitely don’t wait in the same queues. You have direct access to the specialists, often at the best teaching hospitals too. If you have Medicare, good luck.
- HardCodedBias 1y ago
  I don't know what you think "direct access to specialists" is. I have concierge medicine. I have two specialist appointments scheduled both take about 3mo. I can see my PCP within 1 day. That is good. I can have blood drawn within 1 day. That's good. Specialists, no advantage. This makes it not overly valuable, but what do you expect for 8k extra for year (on top of very good health care)? I don't know how to access a higher tier of health. Perhaps at 100M+ of net worth it appears. IDK.
  - lazide 1y ago
    Like Stanford pulmonologist in less than a week for an asthma eval. Meanwhile, my Mom waited months on Medicare for a heart eval due to arrhythmias. Whatever plan you have, it doesn’t sound top tier? This didn’t require high net worth, just a better plan through an employer - or you’re in an area with low specialist populations? Or some sort of low priority on a triage schedule? If you have mm net worth, the specialists come to you - quickly - unless you really need the .001% specialist. and chances are you they don’t and it’s not worth it. But even Kaiser had no issues giving less than a week access for anything important.

Maxatar 1y ago

Just doing a quick check on this, lifestyle choices slightly edges out net worth. Living what is called a "low-risk" lifestyle (don't drink, don't smoke, maintain healthy weight, avoid junk food) results in an average life expectancy of 90 (93 for women, 87 for men), compared to being in the top 1% which results in a life expectancy of 87 (86 for men, 88 for women). The overall average life expectancy in the U.S. is 78 (76 for men, 81 for women). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4866586/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4866586/ https://www.abom.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Impact-of-Healthy-Lifestyle-Factors-on-Life-Expectancies-in-the-US-Population.pdf https://www.abom.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Impact-of-He...

nradov 1y ago

Lifestyle choices have a far larger impact on average. The big gains in lifespan (and healthspan) come from delaying the onset of chronic disease rather than treating it after it occurs.