Rich People Live Longer

Yes, the rich are different from the rest of us. They live longer, for one thing. The New York Times reports on research published in The Journal of the American Medical Association showing that the gap in life spans between rich and poor widened from 2001 to 2014, with the top 1 percent in income among American men living 15 years longer than the poorest 1 percent. Yikes! And for women, the gap is 10 years. Wait, there’s more. In this century, the Times reports, rich Americans have gained three years of longevity. What’s it about? Researchers suspect that more money buys better medical care, but they point out that wealthier people also exercise more, smoke less, feel less stress and are less likely to be obese. The Times reports that the paper find that little correlation between a region’s Medicare spending rate or the proportion of the population with health insurance and how long its poor citizens live. Read more in the New York Times.