Why Your Zip Code Matters
When It Comes to Your Health
When it comes to health, your zip code may be more important than your genetic code says the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in a report released a year ago in April. Beyond Health Care: New Directions to a Healthier America reports that poor Americans are more than three times as likely as Americans with upper middle-class incomes to suffer physical limitations from a chronic illness. And middle-income people can expect to live shorter lives than higher income people, even if they are insured. Where you live and how you live intersect.
As America marks the first anniversary of health reform, foes of the Affordable Care Act are determined to stop the ACA in its tracks before 2014, when a number of provisions are poised to roll out. Given the intersection between zip code and health, ending progress would be dangerous for the majority of Americans.
Highlighted Clip for Thursday, March 24, 2011:
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America issued 10 cross-cutting recommendations for improving the nation’s health. According to the Commission, how long and how well Americans live depend more on where we live, learn, work and play than on medical care, which accounts for only an estimated 10 to 15 percent of preventable early deaths.
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