The cost of inequality : putting a price on health / Les Mayhew.

"One of the UK's great achievements is that people are living longer than they did just a few decades ago. But an ageing population has its cost: it increases pressure on health and social care, on welfare payments and on pensions - and hence on taxes. At the same time, however, it is recognised that older people can make a big contribution to the economy, although poor health remains an obstacle to them doing so. The inequalities can be seen in different parts of the UK, manifesting themselves in shorter working lives, higher healthcare costs, higher welfare payments and income poverty. At present, there is no simple measure that links health on the one hand to economic disadvantage on the other - and so to the tax burden that is needed to pay for health and welfare services. Nor is there adequate understanding of how working lives respond to health improvements, or of the efficacy of focusing spending on treating the sick versus policies designed to maintain and improve health. This paper challenges the conventional wisdom by proposing a novel way of thinking about inequalities that links health to wealth and to the economy."--From page 1.