According to this article and the cited research many Americans are living longer and those at the top are living a lot longer. Almost a decade more in some cases. With almost a century of data to back up the claim the article cites also this increase in life expectancy is taking its toll on social security, medicare. With a close to 13 year gap between the bottom 20 percent and the top 20 percent. Those in the top 20 percent take out more than $170,000 dollars more than the bottom 20 percent. This can clearly place a large burden on the already stretched out system.
This is why there have been many talks of increasing the age again which would allow some of this burden to be lifted. But those whom have lower life expectancy's would be at a greater disadvantage.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-24/the-rich-are-living-longer-and-taking-more-from-taxpayers
4 comments:
This is a great example for the current administration to demonstrate care towards the less favored portion of the population. With proper intervention, and a higher focus on general welfare, would allow income distribution disparities to be decreased, bringing all citizens to a more equal standard of living.
I agree with Patrick, however I do not think it on our current administration's agenda to alleviate the stress of bottom 20%. In a capitalist economy it is harder to achieve a more equal standard of living especially since currently it is harder to be more economically mobile. Raising the age would have a severe affect on those that are left behind. Generally once you hit your late 50s/early 60s it is harder to get hired. It will be interesting to see how the Trump administrations deals with this problem while they are in charge.
This is an interesting article. I'm not surprised to read that the rich can live longer than the poor but I didn't expect this time gap can be over 20 years. I agree with Khadija that it's not that easy to increase the equality by just relying on he administration. Incentive is a crucial factor that should be considered. Also, increasing employment rate of old people is a good way to increase the life expectancy.
This article was very interesting to read. It would make sense that the rich live longer as they are able to afford better healthcare in comparison to those who are not very well off. Having a redistributive government might help combat this issue.
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