Universal Healthcare will keep us Alive Longer

Healthcare Increases Life Expectancy

To finish my series on healthcare and life expectancy, I wanted to write one more article about heath insurance. First I should start by saying that the United States is among one of the only developed countries without universal healthcare. In this same group of countries, our life expectancy numbers appear low and our growth has been much slower.

People can engage in political battles over "Obamacare," Medicare and Medicaid and I will not pass judgement. I just want to provide some information that might help you to form your opinion. I want to show you on a county by county basis what percentages of Americans lack health insurance. When I say lack health insurance, I will give a real world example. You feel a lump in your arm and are concerned so you go to the doctor. The doctor tells you that she needs to run some blood work and remove a piece of your lump for a biopsy. The blood work will cost $450 and the biopsy $900. You have a car that costs $300 per month and your mortgage costs $1,000. What will you buy this month?

Now, let's take a look at the numbers.

Notice anything? The Northeast and Midwest seem to have the best rates of health insurance coverage. Notice the South, specifically Florida, Texas and New Mexico. Many parts of these states have between 30 - 50% uninsured residents!

Now my favorite graph of life expectancy by county. Take a good look at this if you haven't already seen it in my last two articles.

Look at these maps on a county by county basis and notice the general trends. Higher rates of health insurance coverage tend to mean longer life expectancy. I feel that it is generally safe to infer that as "Obamacare" takes effect, people currently without insurance will start to live longer.

One more quick thing I want to discuss is the fact that America wastes billions of dollars each year on health related costs, much of this waste is generated because not everyone has access to preventative care. If the health insurance system functions properly, Americans will have access to preventative care and tax money will be saved on costly late in the game procedures that are used to save lives.

How a Fat Paycheck Can Buy You 20 More Years of Life

Wealthier American Live Longer

Yesterday I wrote about how Americans in some parts of the country live for 82 years, while in other parts only live for about 62 years, if you need a refresher check out my post here. Today I plan on overlaying life expectancy statistics with those of other factors such as income and obesity. I will start by showing the change in life expectancy over time.

1985 Life Expectancy

2010 Life Expectancy

The first thing that I want to point out is the dramatic change in the map between 1985 and 2010, sort of. In almost every area of the country, life expectancy rose by over ten years during this period. But now focus on Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana and notice that these numbers barely budged. In a few counties in these states, life expectancy actually declined in the 25 year period.

Obesity statistics are not as widely available for the whole country dating back to 1985, but even the following map from 2010 should be telling.

American Obesity by County 2010

Notice that the three states with the lowest life expectancies are also the states shown in the darkest red coloring on this new map. In red counties, more than a third of adults are obese; if we include people who are simply overweight this number approaches 70%. It appears that obesity does directly relate to shorter life expectancies. America has become more obese over time and much of the increase has been concentrated in the south. It seems as though some of the gains in medical technologies nationwide are being offset in the south by increasing obesity rates.

Finally let's examine income. This map is from 2008 and shows median income by county. I think you will notice a trend here.

2008 Median Income by County

Once again it appears clear that there is an almost direct relationship between higher incomes and longer life. Almost all of the counties with life expectancies below 70 in the United States fall below average on the median income scale. 

One way to tie all of this together is the fact that it is much cheaper to buy unhealthy food than healthy food. People living on lower incomes are more likely to eat cheaper and thus less healthy which in turn can correlate with a spike in obesity. If you want to learn more about obesity and food access, check out this link.

To continue this series on health, I will further investigate medical costs and differences within healthcare itself and report back tomorrow with more information.

American Geographic Health Gap

Regional Differences in Life Expectancy

When considering life expectancy, numbers are usually quoted at a national basis. For example, the United States has a life expectancy of 78.64 years, currently ranked #33 in the world. Japan, country #1 has a life expectancy of about 83 years, while country #100 has a life expectancy of about 71.5 years. The spread from 1 to 100 is only slightly more than 10 years, which does not seem like much. But what happens when we examine life expectancy on a more localized basis? The findings in the United States may surprise you.

We live as long as the Japanese and as short as the Haitians!

2010 United States Life Expectancy by County

Take a moment to really look at this map and digest this. In the wealthiest healthiest parts of the country, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Boston and Colorado, Americans live for more than 82 years. But in the South, particularly in the Mississippi River Valley and throughout Appalachia, the average person only lives to about 62.

We saw a gap of just over 10 years in the life expectancies of the top 100 countries. But within the United States, we could be as high as #1 or as low as #155, all depending on geography. These staggering numbers are just another example of how inequality ravages the United States, dividing people not just by race, wealth or education, but also by likelihood of living to see their 80th birthday.

Stay tuned for another post tomorrow that further examines life expectancy and how it relates to other factors.