Thinking Allowed

This Viewpoint reviews the social and economic drivers of declines in longevity in the US, especially among lower socioeconomic status groups, and proposes policy options for the Biden-Harris administration to mitigate the trend, including an increase in the federally mandated minimum wage. Atheendar S. Venkataramani. Rourke O’Brien. Alexander C. Tsai. JAMA.

"Even before the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic occurred, the US was mired in a 40-year population health crisis. Since 1980, life expectancy in the US has increasingly fallen behind that of peer countries, culminating in an unprecedented decline in longevity since 2014. Life expectancy at birth in the US in 1980 was 73.6 years, in 2014 was 78.9 years, and in 2018 was 78.7 years. These long-standing trends have been driven by increasing mortality among working-age adults, specifically those of lower socioeconomic status. While working-age adults with a 4-year college degree have experienced gains in life expectancy, those with only a high school diploma have experienced a decline."