Apr. 23, 2008 One of the major aims of the U.S. health system is
improving the health of all people, particularly those segments
of the population at greater risk of health disparities. In
fact, overall life expectancy in the U.S. increased more than
seven years for men and more than six years for women between
1960 and 2000. Now, a new, long-term study of mortality trends
in U.S. counties over the same four decades reports a troubling
finding: These gains are not reaching many parts of the country;
rather, the life expectancy of a significant segment of the
population is declining or at best stagnating. Researchers at
the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the University of
Washington found that 4% of the male population and 19% of the
female population experienced either decline or stagnation in
mortality beginning in the 1980s. "There has always been a view
in U.S. health policy that inequalities are more tolerable as
long as everyone's health is improving. There is now evidence
that there are larg