The Global Gap In Health Care Dollars For Young And Old Is Huge

The United States spends a lot of money taking care of the health needs of old people. In 2010, for example, each person 65 and older received $18,424 in health care services. That’s five times more than the $3,628 in spending per child under 18, and three times more than the $6,125 per working-age adult, according to the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services. “In the developed world, people live longer with very intense disease — and costly treatment,” says Vegard Skirbekk, professor at Columbia University’s Aging Center. In the…

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Child Fitness Gap Linked to Income Inequality

In a comparison of fitness levels among children in 50 countries, the nations with the biggest internal income disparities tended to have the least fit youth. African and northern European nations, as well as Japan, had the highest scores on cardio-respiratory fitness among kids aged 9 to 17, while Mexico was last among the 50 and the United States fourth from the bottom. When looking for social, economic and health factors that went along with high or low fitness levels, researchers found that the greater a country’s internal income inequality,…

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Mermaid Thighs, the anti-thigh gap trend

  WHAT IT IS: A trend in which women are posting pictures showing their thighs touching. HOW IT STARTED: The trend is actually an anti-thigh gap campaign, in the sense that it encourages women — with curvy bodies, in particular — to post pictures of their thighs touching, and in the process, be proud of their bodies. And why Mermaid Thighs? Because that’s what the silhouette of a woman whose thighs touch looks like. HOW IT’S DONE: All you have to do is take a selfie showing your thighs touching.…

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