Health is a function of three things. 1. Luck 2. Genetics and 3. Choices in your lifestyle.
I don't think income solely determines health. I think lots of other things determine health.
Living a long life, the conventional wisdom at the time said, depended to a great extent on who we were-that is, our genes. It depended on the decisions we made-on what we chose to eat, and how much we chose to exercise, and how effectively we were treated by the medical system. No one was used to thinking about health in terms of community.
There's this narrative that is entrenched in some of the professions that there's this mysterious thing called 'socioeconomic status' that is immutably correlated with health. And it isn't.
In the developed world, income inequality within the country is the most important determinant of health standards and life expectancy.
Wealthy Americans are far healthier and live longer than poor Americans.
Having insurance doesn't guarantee good health outcomes, but it is a critical factor.
A person's health isn't generally a reflection of genes, but how their environment is influencing them. Genes are the direct cause of less than 1pc of diseases: 99pc is how we respond to the world.
The power of community to create health is far greater than any physician, clinic or hospital.
It's easy to say that health is all about personal responsibility and we should all make good decisions for ourselves, but the reality is far more complicated. We know that in the case of motor vehicle accidents, how other people drive makes a difference in how safe you are.
It's my personal opinion, and I'm not espousing it to anybody else, I think your immune system and how healthy you are determines how you react to any excess of any kind.
From food and water, then, we may learn whether sites are naturally unhealthy or healthy.