Experts believe that the differences are due to health, though they’re not entirely sure about all the factors that account for better health among the better paid. Higher-income Americans have experienced a relatively steeper decline in deaths from cancer and cardiac conditions, according to Rutledge’s paper, conceivably due to greater reductions in smoking among that group. But that only accounts for about half of the relative improvement in mortality. The rest may be due to better healthcare, healthier lifestyles or better lifelong health — or to factors that haven’t yet been pinpointed.

Source: Los Angeles Times September 12, 2018 20:26 UTC