A new study published in the journal 'Health Affairs' reports that middle-age black men have a death rate twice as high as that of middle-age white men. The study was headed by former Surgeon General David Satcher.

The reason behind the disparity between the races, according to the study, is that blacks tend to have a lower income and receive poorer health care than whites.

The statistics: The death rate for black men between the ages of 45 and 54 was 1,060 per 100,000 men while for whites it was only 503 per 100,000. Each year, the difference in premature deaths between the races is approximately 84,000.

Other factors that contributed to the gap are the higher rate of homicides among African-American males, a disproportionately higher rate of AIDS related deaths and a higher rate of heart disease and diabetes.

Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy wrote a paper that accompanied the study results saying, 'It boggles the mind that for a generation the United States, with all its wealth and leadership, has been the only industrialized country in the world that does not guarantee health care to all of its citizens.' Kennedy demanded that the Bush Administration take action to guarantee equal health care access for all citizens.

Republican Senator Bill Frist, who is also a doctor, took a different track in his paper accompanying the study. Frist argued that, 'The best way to eliminate health disparities is through improvements in the care we deliver to each patient.'