My Take | Why US senators live so long
- US politicians, especially if they are Republicans, prefer socialised medicine for themselves but free-market health care for everyone else
Excluding Dole, I counted 119 late senators on this list. Of these, 49 or a whopping 41 per cent, died after the age of 90. The oldest, Strom Thurmond, was 100 years old. Exactly 23 died before the age of 79, but the vast majority were in their 70s. Only four died earlier, at the ages of 58, 61, 65 and 66. In total, 96 of the 119 senators who have died since 2000 survived past the age of 80, or about 80 per cent.
Why the long life? We know for humans, it’s always a combination of genes and environment. The vast majority on the Senate list were white and male, so as a group, they are actually not genetically representative of the overall US population. But we do know something about the environmental factors. Last year, the overall life expectancy for blacks was 71.8 years; for Hispanics, it was 75.3. Granted, these were affected by the pandemic.
The US has the most expensive health care and drugs in the world, even after Obamacare
But if you are white and well-educated, from a good economic background and have a good job, not to say wealthy, the kind of people who tend to become US senators, you can already expect to live longer. But there is also the fact that members of the US Congress, as a group, enjoy the best institutional health care in the US. While they don’t get it for free, federal subsidies cover 72 per cent of their medical premiums. They also enjoy free or low-cost care through the Office of the Attending Physician as well as free medical outpatient care at military facilities within the D.C. area.