The silence is deafening. Last week, the New York Times reported a horrifying measure of America’s shame. Life expectancy for white women without a high school degree had decreased by five years since 1990, according to a study in Health Affairs. Five years. The least-educated white men lost three years in life expectancy. And the life expectancy for American women is now dead last among developed nations, according to the Human Mortality Database. Life expectancy in many ways is the measure of civilization. It rises as a society conquers deadly epidemics like smallpox or the plague. It rises as mothers …
