Highest & Lowest Life Expectancies Gap

According to a study in PLoS Medicine, "Life expectancy by race in the US in 2001 ranged from 86.7 for Asian females to 68.7 for black males, a gap of 18 y. Analysis of life expectancy by county of residence and by the combination of race and county of residence (referred to as “race-county” in this paper) demonstrates even larger disparities [23]." The gap is over 35 years.

Citation: Murray CJL, Kulkarni SC, Michaud C, Tomijima N, Bulzacchelli MT, et al. (2006) Eight Americas: Investigating Mortality Disparities across Races, Counties, and Race-Counties in the United States. PLoS Med 3(9): e260 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0030260.

New California Department of Public Health

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) on Thursday signed legislation (SB 162) to restructure the Department of Health Services/DHS to create a new Department of Public Health/DPH.

DPH will focus on managing public health threats posed by epidemics, natural disasters and bioterrorism, while DHS would be responsible for overseeing Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program. The law will take effect July 1, 2007. Schwarzenegger will appoint a state Public Health Officer, who must be a licensed physician or surgeon, to oversee the department and two chief deputy directors. In addition, DHS will be renamed the Department of Health Care Services.