>one unexpected trip to the dentist, before you have to start picking and choosing what bills to pay.
Note that the article assumes poor white people all have salaried jobs with great medical insurance plans, or at least get sick pay. Of course they don't.
Therefore the article doesn't understand that lots of people fall into the trap of not fixing something when its small, and instead end up lowering the average lifespan.
Look at, say, alcohol addiction. Lack of medical coverage means if you got treatment your whole family would get the economic death penalty via direct and indirect costs, ruining all their lives, or you can auger in and ruin just yours. Either way, all outcomes of addiction are decreasing average life span.
Note that the article assumes poor white people all have salaried jobs with great medical insurance plans, or at least get sick pay. Of course they don't.
Therefore the article doesn't understand that lots of people fall into the trap of not fixing something when its small, and instead end up lowering the average lifespan.
Look at, say, alcohol addiction. Lack of medical coverage means if you got treatment your whole family would get the economic death penalty via direct and indirect costs, ruining all their lives, or you can auger in and ruin just yours. Either way, all outcomes of addiction are decreasing average life span.