In this payer, we examine the role played by differential mortality in esti
mates of life cycle health profiles. Our study makes three contributions. F
irst, we show that the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) pr
ovides reliable data on mortality as compared to the US life table data. Se
cond ne provide estimates of the relationship, between mortality and wealth
and show strong evidence of differential mortality. Lastly and most import
antly, we show that the differences in mortality by health are large enough
to substantially affect the estimated wealth-age profiles.