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| In this 1996 June file photo, former fellow Senators escort former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole of Kan., and his wife Elizabeth as they leave Capitol Hill following Dole's official retirement from the Senate. AP-Yonhap |
By Alex Lo
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Although the United States has the lowest life expectancy ― at 77.3 years last year of the overall population ― of all developed economies, membership of the US Congress is an excellent predictor of longevity. Now I don't have the data for the House of Representatives, but the US Senate helpfully provides a list of all senators who have ever served since the nation's founding, and also a separate list for all those who have died since 2000. It's the latter list that I am referring to below.
Excluding Dole, I counted 119 late senators on this list. Of these, 49 or a whopping 41 percent, 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 percent.
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.
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| In this April 28 file photo, U.S. President Joe Biden addresses a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. AP-Yonhap |
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 percent 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.
In 2001, 34 percent of US bosses paid for 100 percent of their employees' premiums. By 2016, that had dropped to 9 percent of employers. Today, after the worst of the pandemic, it's even lower.
The US has the most expensive health care and drugs in the world, even after Obamacare. That is so primarily because of laws that were made in the US Congress. US politicians, especially if they are Republicans, prefer socialized medicine for themselves but free-market health care for everyone else.
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