<story><title>For life expectancy, money matters</title><url>http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/04/for-life-expectancy-money-matters/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>AndrewKemendo</author><text>My go-to story whenever anyone says &amp;quot;money can&amp;#x27;t buy happiness&amp;quot; is this:&lt;p&gt;A good friend of mine was diagnosed with Liver Cancer around the same time as Steve Jobs. Both lived near SF, and both were put on the waiting list for transplants around the same time (+- 2 months). She was young, very sick and otherwise healthy so was a good candidate to be high on the list.&lt;p&gt;Then I heard about Steve &amp;quot;moving&amp;quot; to Tennessee [1] to get on a different, shorter transplant list - and thus receiving the transplant needed. She died shortly after, never receiving a transplant, while Jobs lived two more years.&lt;p&gt;This is not a complaint or gripe about fairness, but just a demonstration of how two very different people in a very similar predicament had massively different outcomes based almost entirely on wealth, fame and power. Money buys access, which create options, which enable health, freedom and longevity. It&amp;#x27;s so simple and obvious I don&amp;#x27;t know how people can argue otherwise.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.commercialappeal.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;southern-transplants-how-apple-ceo-steve-jobs-got-the-liver-he-needed-in-memphis-ep-307208860-329010091.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.commercialappeal.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;southern-transplants-ho...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=od6Nq_bN_XY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=od6Nq_bN_XY&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>pkaye</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m on a transplant list for a kidney. The wait in the bay area is around 5 years. What I learned is you can be on multiple transplant lists as long as you can travel to the transplant center in under so many hours. Thus those who are rich enough to afford a private jet on-call can be on multiple transplant center lists.</text></comment>
<story><title>For life expectancy, money matters</title><url>http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/04/for-life-expectancy-money-matters/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>AndrewKemendo</author><text>My go-to story whenever anyone says &amp;quot;money can&amp;#x27;t buy happiness&amp;quot; is this:&lt;p&gt;A good friend of mine was diagnosed with Liver Cancer around the same time as Steve Jobs. Both lived near SF, and both were put on the waiting list for transplants around the same time (+- 2 months). She was young, very sick and otherwise healthy so was a good candidate to be high on the list.&lt;p&gt;Then I heard about Steve &amp;quot;moving&amp;quot; to Tennessee [1] to get on a different, shorter transplant list - and thus receiving the transplant needed. She died shortly after, never receiving a transplant, while Jobs lived two more years.&lt;p&gt;This is not a complaint or gripe about fairness, but just a demonstration of how two very different people in a very similar predicament had massively different outcomes based almost entirely on wealth, fame and power. Money buys access, which create options, which enable health, freedom and longevity. It&amp;#x27;s so simple and obvious I don&amp;#x27;t know how people can argue otherwise.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.commercialappeal.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;southern-transplants-how-apple-ceo-steve-jobs-got-the-liver-he-needed-in-memphis-ep-307208860-329010091.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.commercialappeal.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;southern-transplants-ho...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=od6Nq_bN_XY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=od6Nq_bN_XY&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>chvid</author><text>I always thought that Steve Jobs was a perfect example that even if you were rich, famous, important you can still die very young.&lt;p&gt;I know in Denmark where everything health care is run by the public sector and there is a very egalitarian access; you also have the wealthy living considerable longer than the poor.&lt;p&gt;I think lifestyle factors such as good social life, meaningful professional life matter a lot. Probably more than health care access.</text></comment>