Life At The Top Of America Isn 't Just Better, It 's Longer By Janny Scott

Janny Scott’s article, “Life at the Top in America Isn’t Just Better, It’s Longer,” follows three different people as they recover from a heart attack; Jean Miele, Will Wilson, and Ewa Rynczak Gora. Though each person in the article suffered a heart attack around the same time, their treatment and recovery processes were vastly different. Economic inequality had a huge influence on how each person was treated during and after their heart attacks. When Mr. Miele suffered his heart attack, he understandably chose the nicest hospital to receive his treatment. However, when Ms. Gora was suffering from her heart attack, she wasn’t given a choice of hospitals, she was simply taken to the closest city hospital. Unlike Ms. Gora, Mr. Miele had the means to afford the best care possible; he could afford the best hospital, he could afford the best surgery, and he could afford to follow the best recovery plan. Ms. Gora’s lack of wealth an integral reason why she did not recover from her heart attack in the way the Mr. Miele, and even Mr. Wilson, did.

Why are higher income and social status associated with better health? If it were just a matter of the poorest and lowest status groups having poor health, the explanation could be things like poor living conditions. But the effect occurs all across the socio-economic spectrum. Considerable research indicates that the degree of control people have over life circumstances,

In addition, they endure more stressful family and work conditions which can lead to unhealthy lifestyle characteristics, such as excessive use of alcohol and may…(reword) poor nutrition” (19). In other words, the more prestige/power one has within society, the better their chances are of living longer. Scott’s article Life at the Top in America Isn’t Just Better, It’s Longer; provided many examples that showed the inequality between the classes. For example, Jean Miele’s case; he had a heart attack and because of his social class—and connections established through his status—he was surrounded by two knowledgeable colleagues that knew something was seriously wrong with Miele, therefore; immediately calling an ambulance. In addition, because of the neighborhood Miele was in during the heart attack he was given a choice of where we was to go to receive medical care; within minutes of arriving at the chosen hospital, he was in line for an angioplasty to unclog the affected artery. After the heart attach Miele entered a cardiac rehab which was covered through his insurance. As Scott showed in her article, Miele never once considered the amount this operation cost or the price for his cardiac rehab treatment.

Socio-economic class or socio-economic status (SES) may refer to mixture of various factors such as poverty, occupation and environment. It is a way of measuring the standard and quality of life of individuals and families in society using social and economic factors that affect health and wellbeing ( Giddens and Sutton, 2013). Cockerham (2007 p75) argues: ‘Social class or socioeconomic status (SES) is the strongest predictor of health, disease causation and longevity in medical sociology.’ Research in the 1990s, (Drever and Whitehead, 1997) found out that people in higher SES are generally healthier, and live longer than those in lower SES.

The Health and Wealth connection distilled is our health will most commonly reflect from our amount of wealth. The wealthy can afford the cost of quality care and the time to take care of themselves. Within the textbook, Dimensions of Human Behavior Hutchison writes. Public health experts have long noted the association of poor clinical outcomes, in all body systems, with low income, low education, unsanitary housing, poor healthcare, on stable employment, and uncertain physical environment (Hutchison, 2015). Easily demonstrated throughout American society the rather dubious and is a somewhat perplexing phenomenon of the Health-and-Wealth connection theory. The gap between the haves and have-nots are ever expanding. Those who have the funding to pay for resources will pay to get those resources. And those who do not have sufficient funds to pay for said resources will, unfortunately, have to stand in the long lines to receive seemingly, deceptively, scarce resources.

In addition, to the first book review our second review analyzed the lives of people class distinctions. In Class Matters as stated in my initial review the book focuses on the negative and positive factors of people’s lives. During a section of the book just to recap the experiences of three people of different social classes experiencing heart attacks. The first guy that had a heart attack was of the upper middle class. This man had the luxury of giving multiple options of attending the best hospital and care for his health. In chapter five heading the Hierarchy: Upper Class or Superclass? The conclusion states, “Best positioned within the class structure to obtain high-quality financial capital and also social capital…” (Doob, 142). The first guy with the heart attack has a better advantage because of all of the necessities and benefits he has to offer. The second person with the heart attack was of the middle class. This man was issued with fewer options, but still a good hospital he had the same surgery, but with no additional information as the first person. In chapter six it discusses how some middle class people have difficulty financially. The expenses of health insurance have become much greater for middle class American’s. Doob states, “The harsh reality involving healthcare is that left on their own, many middle-class people can afford only very limited or no

Different researches do believe that there is a link between social class and health. It is a statistical impression and also it has been argued that there isn’t really a pattern in social class, age and peoples employment that has had an impact on people’s health inequalities.

Many are benighted to the fact that health is rooted in a classist, race ingrained, education entrenched hierarchy. The higher you are on the socio-economic pyramid the greater the guarantee of safe housing, sufficient food, and access to quality care. High income and social status is correlated to better health outcomes because regardless of age and sex, low-income citizens are susceptible to lower life expectancy and more illnesses. This is further heightened by one 's race/ethnicity. The degree of control a person has over their way of life is based on stressors that these two factors (income and class) produce. Education goes hand in hand with socioeconomic status as education supposedly facilitates the likelihood of employment and consequently establishes a class paradigm. Outside of that, when people are knowledgeable and are equipped with problem solving skills they are privileged with a sense of autonomy over life circumstances. Education is a gateway for better access to healthcare and information on healthy living. Stressful occupations, underemployment, and unemployment are linked with poor health because a person 's job, or lack thereof, has domineering influences on their physical, mental, and social wellness. Employment provides financial stability, outlets for personal growth, opportunities for social contact etc. thus when that is generally nonexistent, or is taken away from a person, physiological and emotional safety is compromised. Then there is

The video shows the lives of four families with different economic status in Louisville, Kentucky. The life of a hospital CEO, a janitor, a lab supervisor and an unemployed mother during video showed the clear relationship between health and longevity. Families that social economic status is higher can maintain better health status; conversely, the family that socioeconomic status is lower has the worse health status. Poor Americans die almost six years earlier than the rich; American middle man died two years earlier than the rich. In addition, video states that education

The Health and wealth connection distilled is our health will most commonly reflect from our amount of wealth. The wealthy can afford the cost of quality care and the time to take care of them selves. Within the textbook, Dimensions of Human Behavior Hutchison writes. Public health experts have long noted the association of poor health outcomes, in all body systems, with low income, low education, unsanitary housing, in adequate healthcare, on stable employment, and unsafe physical environment (Hutchison, 2015). Easily demonstrated throughout American society the rather dubious and is somewhat perplexing phenomenon of the Health-and-Wealth connection theory. The gap between the haves and have-nots are ever expanding. Those who have the funding to pay for resources will pay to get those resources. And those who do not have adequate funding to pay for said resources will unfortunately have to stand in the long lines to receive seemingly, deceptively, scarce resources.

Income is also related to health; people who are affluent tend to have better health status than those who are less affluent.

The top one percent of the wealthiest people in the United States is not only getting wealthier and widening the gap between them and the middle class economically, but they are widening the gap in terms of health as well. The film “In Sickness and In Wealth” took a look at the correlation between economic inequality and the overall health of people. To do this the film looked at different economic classes in examples shown by the lives of individuals in Louisville, Kentucky.

This essay will discuss ways in which a person’s socioeconomic class and his/her social situation can have an impact on his/her health, using examples. We believe that there is a direct link between socioeconomic/social class and health (Adler et al. 1994). I will be defining the key terms: socioeconomic and health, social class then proceed to discuss about how poverty, income, employability, environment and housing can impact on a person’s social situation and their health.

The aim of this essay is to examine the influence that socio-economic status has on an individual’s health.

Once could say that upper status could lead to a person living longer because they are treated differently when they get medical care. I experienced this first hand as someone I know worked and had really good insurance when they went to a specialist because they were injured they got top notch treatment. Due to the injury the person lost their job, insurance and had to get Medicaid. The person went to that same specialist and now with State funded insurance and the doctor treated this person so differently and the care wasn’t even close as to the previous encounter with that same