Wealth and health in United States
Abstract
This paper discusses the wealth distribution in United States in terms of income levels and how it affects the country’s health using the life expectancy as a parameter for this measure. It considers the disparities in income level, how it influences health expenditure which is translated in life expectancy among individuals, various groups and communities. Data is analysed to reach a conclusion on how wealth relates to health affordability and access.
Introduction and background
Though it may appear simple how the health of a person is linked to their income for both the rich and the poor, the relationship between health and income can be viewed as a gradient. This is to means that their connection is at every stage of economic ladder. How do American population relates to their health in terms of infant mortality and life expectancy among the various economic classes? This notion considers that income is normally a driving force behind the health disparities experienced in the Americans and is normally indicated among the Hispanics and blacks. In these populations, the rates of diseases and illnesses are higher than among the white and non-Hispanic communities and such differences are connected to the income disparities (CDC, 2013). In addition, the Hispanics, blacks and Native Americans who have higher incomes have better health as compared to their counterparts with less income. The families with higher incomes spend considerable amount of income in health schemes which ensures that they can access better health care and can afford to adopt preventive measures against illnesses (CDC, 2013). Moreover, higher incomes indicate greater longevity and life expectancy across various income groups increase over time. The relationship between health , life expectancies and income varies significantly across different areas , and the variations in longevity across different income groupings reduces in some area while increasing in others as per the statistics.
Wealth and better wealth enhance better directly since wealthier people can access or afford resources that offers protection or improves health. Similarly, middle-income people tend to have more flexible and stable jobs that offer good benefits like health insurance, paid leave, and fewer occupational hazards. Those individuals who are more affluent have higher disposable income and hence, can access healthy life styles and medical care and can extend these benefits to children. People with low incomes mostly have constrained access to medical care , are probably under-insured or uninsured and encounter more financial barriers to accessing deductibles and cost of medication and such expenses of health care(Woolf, et. al 2015). The poor people can only afford to live in neighborhoods with low quality in health services, poor socialization and peer pressure influences such that they are exposed to violence and crime, physical distance and even isolation. In addition, such neighborhoods expose them to unemployment, residential mobility and social disorder which mean that they access little economic opportunities to improve their health outcomes. The economic status of neighborhoods and individuals are linked with health of population since the local economy impacts on access to commerce, jobs and other resources that make it possible for families to enjoy local-based health benefits and economic success (Woolf, et. al 2015).
The United States authorities have spent a lot more on health care as compared to other nations over the years according to data on Gapminder website. As wealth in among the households goes up, so does the expenditure on health per person while generally fewer people are being insured. While mortality rate and life expectancy are crude, measures of health, they indicate the disparities in distribution of economic growth among households belonging to different population groupings. Adults with low incomes are more likely to report poor health as compared to adults with adults whose households have over 400 % poverty level as per the federal statistics. This is because such individuals are less likely to engage in economic activities because of chronic illness. Children from poor households are more likely to be in poor health which means that their mortality rates will be higher. Life expectancy rose steadily as income increased and at age 40 the life expectancy gap between individuals in bottom and top 1 percent of income distribution is 10 years among females and 15 years among females. For those individuals at the lower incomes levels the statistics shows reduced life expectancy. The data shows that inequality rose for life expectancy for the 2001 -2014 period and those people at the top 5 percent of income distribution increased their life expectancy with about 3 years and those in bottom 5 percent had no gains. In the 200-2008 period, prevalence of diseases such asthma is indicated as 8.2 % among the higher income children, 11.7 percent among the lower income children and 23.3 % among lower income Hispanic children (Gapminder, 2015). Children from poor households also have a higher risk of childhood obesity which strongly indicates the possibility of adulthood obesity.
The trend in life expectancy versus the income between 2001 and 2004 indicates that there is a large rise in life expectancy for groups with higher incomes especially during 2000s. The mean life expectancy rose from 2001 to 2014 by0.2 years in the highest income earners and only 0.08 years among the lowest income earners. For women, the changes comparable to men were 0.23 for the higher income earners and only 0.1 years for the lower income earners. These variations can also be observed to be substantial across areas or regions in United States more so for the low-income persons. Great variations are observed across low-income earners while little variation is observed for the high-income persons. For the men living in the San Francisco, New York Detroit, Dallas, California and Texas the range of life expectancy among men was 72.3 years -78.6 years in the lower income regions while those in the top income regions ranged between 86.5-87.5 years (Gapminder, 2015).
85 Life expectancy
Women men
80
75
70
0 5 10 15 20 (House hold income quartile)
The above graph shows the trend in increase in life expectancy as the level of income increases among the various incomes quartiles. The level of increase is higher among women is higher among women than men for both the lower income earners and higher income earners. The figure can also explain the level of income among the variations across the various regions or cities where life expectancy increases with as households’ income increase across the quartiles. For those people occupying the lower income quartile, life expectancy differed by around 5 years among the men and 4 years among the women between the bottom and top longevity community zones (Woolf, et. al 2015). Similar to life expectancy levels, temporal trends differ substantially across geographical areas.
As aforementioned, income-based differences in longevity of life can also be seen across various communities. Counties such as Fairfax in Virginia which is among the richest and McDowel County which is among the poorest are separated by a small distance but the difference in life expectancy is quite huge.
Life expectancy, by Income, 1988–98
|
Life expectancy after age 25 |
49.2 |
51.2 |
53.8 |
55.7 |
|
Income - percentage |
Less than 100 percent |
101-200 % |
201-400 % |
Over 400 % |
|
|
|
|
|
|
At 25 years old, people in highest income group are expected to live over 6 years more than those in the lower income groups. This data correlates with reports by Social Security Administration that people retiring at 65 are living longer but from 1970s people with earnings at the highest income distribution have experienced improved life expectancy by over 6 years than those at the bottom with 1.3 years (Gapminder,n.d).
Conclusion
Poverty in United States relates with deprivation in areas related to health and thus individuals’ life expectancy. The eye-opening disparities is indicated by the widening gap shown over a period of 15 years since 2001- 2015 , with the highest earning people being able to afford and access best health benefits while the lower income earners are struggling. Life expectancy and mortality rates are good indicators of such disparities. Life expectancy improved by about 2.34 years among men and around 2.91 years among women for top income earners and about 0.3 and 0.4 among men and women respectively for lower income earners. The difference results from the percentage of income whose expenditure is purely on health with rich people spending more than poor people.
References
Gapminder, (2015). Life expectancy. https://www.gapminder.org/tag/life-expectancy/
Woolf, S., H., Aron, L., Dubay, L., Simon, S., M., Zimmerman, E. (2015). How are Income and wealth linked to Health and longevity? Center on Society and Health. Retrieved from: http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/49116/2000178-How-are-Income-and-Wealth-Linked-to-Health-and-Longevity.pdf
CDC, (2013). Health Disparities and Inequalities Report — United States, 2013. Vol. 62 .3. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/other/su6203.pdf
