Demographics and Health

United Press International runs a story about research which looks at health in seniors and finds, unsurprisingly, that wealthy, highly educated white seniors have much better health than the less well off and non-white. Hat tip to Power Line for the link.

Researchers reviewed federal government data on more than 55,000 older adults. They found that between 2000 and 2014, there was a 14 percent increase in the rate of those who reported good health.

Overall, 52 percent of older adults with good health had high incomes. Just 31 percent of those with poor health had high incomes.

Whites were more likely than blacks or Hispanics to have good health. The rate of good health among whites rose from 442 per 1,000 to 533 per 1,000 during the study. The rate of good health among blacks and Hispanics remained flat, but the rate did increase among other racial/ethnic groups.

Those with graduate degrees had the most improvement -- 56 more healthy people per thousand -- while the rate remained flat among those with only a high school diploma.

Since Medicare provides universal health care to everyone over age 65, it isn't entirely clear why income makes such a difference in health. Presumably different social classes have different life styles resulting in differing health sequelae.

One thing I know from reading faculty obituaries at the university from which I retired is that profs tend to die at advanced ages. They have graduate degrees, of course, plus reasonable incomes and most were white.