When a politician advocates for longer lives and fewer deaths, he or she is advocating curtailment of travel, work (travel and work create hazards). Diet just above subsistence makes people lean, much less obesity. More manual labor, less mechanized labor. This is also healthy.
A depression will also result in far fewer pollutants being released into the air and could hinder global warming, which is, far and away, the greatest existential threat facing Mother Earth.
Half true anyway. Even assuming antropogenic global warming is a hoax (it is), cleaner air is more healthy than breathing hydrocarbon-related pollutants.
The unstated assumption that general economic well-being and health go hand in hand is just flat false. Standing in soup and bread lines is HEALTHY.