For Women, Life is Short(er)

by Lisa Codispoti, Senior Advisor
and Brigette Courtot, Policy Analyst
National Women’s Law Center

So, what’s on your list of stuff to do at some point during your lifetime? Will you visit all seven continents? Open a restaurant? Bowl a perfect 300? Well, according to a new study on trends in life expectancy, some American women may not have quite as much time as they thought. A significant number of women (about one in five) in this country are experiencing stagnating or falling life expectancy, for the first time since the flu epidemic of 1918. In other words, women’s lives here are getting shorter. 

Researchers say that this trend reversal is driven by “increases in death from diabetes, lung cancer, emphysema, and kidney failure…and the slowing of the historic decline in heart disease deaths.” First we learn that U.S. life expectancy now lags behind 41 other countries, (despite the fact that we spend more on health care per capita than any other nation) and then we find out that the gap in life expectancy between rich and poor Americans is growing, and now this?

However depressing the news may be, we were still glad to see it splashed over the front pages of major newspapers like the Washington Post. It is the perfect “poster story” for why health reform matters for women. When our health system fails, our lives get shorter. It also points to the need to address health disparities for women – especially in rural areas. If we can improve women’s access to comprehensive and affordable health coverage, we also improve their ability to schedule that mammogram, get the supplies they need to manage their diabetes, or visit a doctor to learn how to control their blood pressure. And when women can get the care they need, they’ll live healthier…and longer. Long enough to cross off all that stuff on their list.