What went wrong in the 1980s?

This is striking and depressing. Life expectancy in the United States is well behind most other OECD countries and the trend really worsened about 1990. What's more we die earlier from all sorts of causes from infectious diseases to chronic conditions and the difference is getting bigger. If you want to live a long life maybe you should move to Europe!

You should read the whole post by Austin Frakt on the Incidental Economist.