More Evidence That Raising the Social Security Retirement Age Is No Problem for the Rich, but Tough on the Poor

A study released last week found that mortality rates among people 62 and older are inextricably linked to lifetime earnings, reports the Los Angeles Times . The higher the earnings, the lower the mortality rate. As Kathy Ruffing of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities points out, among men ages 65 to 69, those in the lowest 20 percent of lifetime earnings (less than $22,400 a year) had death rates more than three times as high as those in the top 20 percent (annual earnings of $74,356 or more). Specifically, the lowest-income group had a mortality rate 65 percent higher than the average of all men ages 65 to 69, while the highest-earning had a rate 39 percent less than the average. The spread between rich and poor narrowed for older groups, but never disappeared. The researchers conjecture that the healthiest members of each age group live the longest, and as the number of survivors shrinks, the wealth factor becomes less crucial.