I would be interested to know if the researchers touched on the decisions made by the poor that caused their bad health.

Apparently they do account for the statistical impact of all the factors you mentioned and a few others, in an attempt to separate the effects of the SES gradient from those factors.

I must admit I looked up a lot of words as I am pretty weak on statistics, and the math is just beyond me.  Took me a while to figure out what the hell “asymptotic” means and how it relates to the study, f’rinstance.  My brains are turning to mush these days and I wish I’d studied harder in school.

My own bias is that “giving to the poor” doesn’t do them any good at all, but that improving the infrastructure of education, health-care, law-enforcement, etc. probably helps them a lot.  I really like Bill Cosby’s take on black culture, for instance.  But the health effects of SES disparity are apparently not limited to any racial group.

This sounds more like another soak the rich and give it to the poor scheme but I am going to read the report.

After you read it, come back and write about it!  Or put a post on your own blog and put a link here in the comments, whichever you want.

I have not read this report but it does sound interesting. I would be interested to know if the researchers touched on the decisions made by the poor that caused their bad health. For example, drug and alcohol abuse are much more common among the poor than the wealthier people. This fact alone would account for an earlier death. And, of couse I doubt that there were any mention of why the people were poor-such as drug and alcohol abuse, refusal to get an education, poor work habits, and in some cases just down right being sorry human beings. This sounds more like another soak the rich and give it to the poor scheme but I am going to read the report.