Seminar Series: Causes of Lagging Life Expectancy at Older Ages in the United States

"Causes of Lagging Life Expectancy at Older Ages in the United States" Life expectancy in the United States fares poorly in international comparisons, primarily because of high mortality rates above age 50. One explanation is a poor performance by the health care system. We find that, by standards of OECD countries, the US does well in terms of screening for cancer, survival rates from cancer, survival rates after heart attacks and strokes, and medication of individuals with high levels of blood pressure or cholesterol. We conclude that the low longevity ranking of the United States is not likely to be a result of a poorly functioning health care system. In the second part of the paper, we argue that the history of heavy cigarette smoking in the United States is a major factor in its poor ranking.