During the past 40 years, the gap between rich and poor Americans has continued to widen in terms of health and mortality, as well as income. Now, in a first-of-its-kind study(opens in new tab/window) of an extremely low-income and predominantly Black population, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center found that people who earned less than $15,000 a year died, on average, more than 10 years earlier than those whose annual income exceeded $50,000. Addressing racial and inco.