If the new personalized health technologies wind up being used disproportionately by people with more education and income, driving that group toward even better health, they will probably cause the gap in life expectancy to widen still further.An email to the author...
Mr. Orszag,
Thanks for your Gloomberg (oops, Freudian typo; I mean Bloomberg) article on improved health technology.
You worry about lifespan gaps because those who adopt the new technology are likely to live longer, as it is the more affluent who will benefit the most because they can afford the WiFi scales and Dick Tracy wrist computers.
Consider something of only marginal health consequence, but which provides an alternative view. I assume that there is a gap in the distribution of big plasma video screens between affluent and less-thans. A similar gap existed in the Sixties between those with Living Color TVs and B&Ws. Is there a dwelling in any of the 50 states today which has only B&W? If there is, they must have obtained one of the subsidized converters when the analog-to-digital conversion occurred or their analog B&W has antenna terminal transformed to an F-connector screwed on to the cable attached to the cable box.
Please stop feeling (seemingly) guilty. As a technology early-adopter, you are paving the way for the rest of us to benefit. If what you are using works, the price will drop so the rest of us down the income scale can afford it, sooner rather than later.It worked with color TV, VCRs, DVDs, and now Blu-ray. Why not health tech, too?
Rex Pilger
Arvada, Colorado
