From Charles F. Barth:

Re: Lagging U.S. life expectancy ranking blamed on health system (Oct. 9): Have the authors considered the outrageously high costs of health care in the U. S. as a direct cause of the lagging life expectancies? Some of the root causes may involve; the FDA's cumbersome process of drug approvals limiting development of effective drugs and inflating the cost of medications, health insurers routinely denying coverage in about half the submitted claims, HMO's in particular limit time spent between doctors and patients, doctors requiring many additional tests to protect them from malpractice suits, and people themselves following very unhealthy lifestyles.