"We also found that while the wealthiest Americans live longer than the poorest, the wealth-mortality gap in the U.S. is far more pronounced than in Europe.
We are a team of health policy researchers who study health systems and how their performance compares across countries."
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"Wealth inequality has been rising for decades, but more so in the U.S. than in Europe due to a widening gap between the wealth of the richest and the poorest.
At the same time, despite spending significantly more on health care than other wealthy nations, overall, the U.S. consistently demonstrates worse health outcomes, such as higher infant mortality rates and avoidable mortality."
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"At its core, our research suggests that health outcomes are shaped by much more than just health care systems. It is likely that economic and social policies ' from education and employment to housing and food security ' play a crucial role in determining how long people live, including across the wealth distribution.
European countries have found ways to reduce health disparities without dramatically increasing health spending.
By distributing health-promoting resources more equally across wealth groups, these nations may have created environments where longevity is less dependent on individual wealth."
