Not even wealth is saving Americans from dying at rates seen among some of the poorest Europeans

Today, the wealthiest middle-aged and older adults in the U.S. have roughly the same likelihood of dying over a 12-year period as the poorest adults in northern and western Europe, according to a study published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine.

“It’s really concerning because, to me, what it’s saying is that the set of stressors that are harming the health of Americans is very widespread, to the point where even being wealthy or rich, you’re not going to be able to escape them,” said Dr. Atheendar Venkataramani, an associate professor of health policy at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, who reviewed the study but wasn’t involved in it.

“It’s hard to pin what’s happening on health care access,” Venkataramani said. “Certainly health care must have something to do with it, but it cannot be even a dominant part of the story if we’re seeing wealthier Americans having similar or worse outcomes than poor individuals in other wealthy countries.”