Why Wealth Can’t Buy American Health/CAE Reading
Why Wealth Can’t Buy American Health A stark study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has exposed a profound systemic health deficit in the United States: even the most affluent Americans die younger than the poorest populations in Europe. While the "wealth health premium"—the reality that richer people generally live longer—exists on both continents, the U.S. health baseline is so severely compromised that the wealthiest $25% of Americans have survival rates that only match the poorest quarter of people in Northern and Western Europe. The Clinical Data Researchers tracked more than 73,000 adults aged 50 to 85 over a decade . The findings paint a troubling medical picture: The Universal Deficit: Americans die earlier than Europeans across all income levels. The Affluence Illusion: High net worth in the U.S. can buy premium medical concierge services, but it fails to immunize affluent citizens against the nation's broader environmental and structural he...