Inequality: The Root Source of Sickness

Sat, Oct 31, 2009

America In Crisis, Health and Medicine, The Lies that Bind Us

by Susan Rosenthal

The United States spends more on health care than any other industrial nation, yet it has the highest infant death rates and the lowest life expectancy.

This problem is attributed to a fragmented, profit-oriented medical system that denies millions of people access to care.¹ While a national medical plan that covers everyone is desperately needed, improving the general health of the population requires more fundamental change.

Studies show that social inequality affects the health of populations more than any other factor – more than diet, smoking, exercise and even more than access to medical care.²

Americans suffer the worst health statistics in the industrialized world because they live in the most unequal society in the industrialized world./.../