Living Long in Geographic America
The philosophy of healthcare provision in the USA traditionally relies on the anything-that-isn’t-socialism-is-worthy-of-a-look approach, and while waiting for the Big Idea that actually works, the smart approach is make lots of money, position yourself to be able to buy expensive healthcare when needed. For as the French used to say before putting together the best (socialized) healthcare system in the world, “It’s better to be rich and healthy than poor and sickly”.
A recent study, however, indicates that the smart money approach might not yield the healthiest results. Seems that those Americans living longest do not fit into the groupings you might expect, ie, well-off non-smoking Birkenstock-wearing whites living in good suburbs.
The list of the “eight Americans”, sorted by descending longevity (along with that critical average per capita income figure) are:
- Asian-Americans, average per capita income of $21,566 (€16,964), have a life expectancy of 84.9 years.
- Northland low-income rural whites, $17,758 (€13,968), 79 years.
- Middle America (mostly white), $24,640 (€19,382), 77.9 years.
- Low-income whites in Appalachia, Mississippi Valley, $16,390 (€12,892), 75 years.
- Western American Indians, $10,029 (€7,889), 72.7 years.
- Black Middle America, $15,412 (€12,123), 72.9 years.
- Southern low-income rural blacks, $10,463 (€8,230), 71.2 years.
- High-risk urban blacks, $14,800 (€11,642), 71.1 years.
American expatriates living in the SW of France were not included in the study, so I don’t know where I stand.
The Reader’s Digest version can be found in today’s IHT here.
