Healthy, wealthy, but not so wise

According to the latest studies on health and mortality, the wealthiest 1% of men can now expect to live to the ripe old age of 89, an increase of 6 years of life expectancy since 1980.  The poorest 20% on the other hand will live to an average of 79 years, a zero gain since the previous study.  I don't know  about you, but 13 years seems to me like a pretty large gap.  Some of the difference is caused by the opioid epidemic, some by poor health habits like smoking and obesity, but the major cause is the increasing wealth gap between the rich and poor which is being exacerbated by the latest rounds of tax cuts.  People making $10,000 or less will see their taxes increase by $182.00/year through 2027, while millionaires will see their taxes cut by over $6,000.00/year during the same period.  Meanwhile, the dismantling of the ACA and failure to fund the Children's Health Insurance Program will continue to make health care for the poorest among us a precarious proposition.   This is just one  in a continuum of issues which increasingly stratify the social classes in the US based on shares of the national wealth.  But it is also the most glaring difference.  13 years of life stolen from the poorest by the wealthiest.