I agree with the author's conclusions but he should have been more careful about his data on expectation of life. In order of length of life: white women, black women, white men, black men. Black women live longer than white men; women live longer than men. The difference is mostly due to violent deaths among young men. After about age 65 black men actually live longer than white men.

The best way to reduce the mortality differences is to reduce the differences in infant mortality and reduce the deaths from violence and accidents.

That's why I hope to average myself out with a white male in his early 20's who drove drunk and died, so I can be around to at least 120.

mgk makes several erroneous statements.

Although it is true that blacks have a homicide rate about 10 to 15 times higher than whites (this is balanced somewhat by the much higher suicide rate of whites), but this is NOT what accounts for the racial difference in mortality. Blacks have a much higher rate of death from heart disease, stroke, asthma, hypertension, renal disease and cancers of lung, colon, breast and prostate; this is what mainly accounts for the difference. Blacks also have higher rates of drug overdose deaths and HIV which also contribute to the difference.

The point of health care reform is to cover ALL AMERICANS regardless of race, sex, political party, etc.

Improvement in health care access and lowering of health care costs wont keep people from shooting each other.Suicide rate might decline with improved mental health care and certainly heart ailments and other such stuff might get ealier and better care

This whole argument about white, black, men, women, etc is unproductive and irrellevent.

The idea is simple--health care for EVERYONE.

Anything less is failure.