Our Health Policy Matters

You shouldn’t have to worry about anything during vacation season. So this column is my vacation gift to you. It is about all the health policy matters we seem to worry about the least.  I have written close to 150 columns.  If you look down the right side of the page, you will find links to the ten most-read ones.  The subjects won’t surprise you – fairness in mental health treatment, Obamacare and private insurance, and cursed football players lead the way. But do you ever wonder about the columns with the fewest readers? Based solely and unscientifically on my numbers, here are a half dozen or so health policy matters we seem to care about the least. Long Term Care.  Are you worried about continuing high unemployment rates, taxes on small businesses, or another stock market crash ruining your family’s financial security?   If so, you should redirect that worry.  Because US Trust CEO Keith Banks called long term care costs...

You shouldn’t have to worry about anything during vacation season. So this column is my vacation gift to you. It is about all the health policy matters we seem to worry about the least.  I have written close to 150 columns.  If you look down the right side of the page, you will find links to the ten most-read ones.  The subjects won’t surprise you – fairness in mental health treatment, Obamacare and private insurance, and cursed football players lead the way. But do you ever wonder about the columns with the fewest readers? Based solely and unscientifically on my numbers, here are a half dozen or so health policy matters we seem to care about the least. Long Term Care.  Are you worried about continuing high unemployment rates, taxes on small businesses, or another stock market crash ruining your family’s financial security?   If so, you should redirect that worry.  Because US Trust CEO Keith Banks called long term care costs...

It took Super Storm Sandy to remind us how much we need our government. And how rarely we see government leaders truly cooperate. Cooperation has been a dirty word in politics for close to two decades.  But in responding to the crisis caused by Sandy, President Obama and Governor Christie showed us that political adversaries are at their best when they work together to meet our needs. It took an environmental holocaust for this to happen.  But as the pictures of destruction in state after state circulated throughout the media, no one talked about privatizing FEMA.  No one complained that the government was spending too many taxpayer dollars rescuing people from death.  It was a fine way for the President to end his first term in office – one that may ultimately have won him his re-election.  And also won him a new opportunity to collaborate with the states. In the storm’s aftermath, we understand that one of the prices of having the freedom t...

It took Super Storm Sandy to remind us how much we need our government. And how rarely we see government leaders truly cooperate. Cooperation has been a dirty word in politics for close to two decades.  But in responding to the crisis caused by Sandy, President Obama and Governor Christie showed us that political adversaries are at their best when they work together to meet our needs. It took an environmental holocaust for this to happen.  But as the pictures of destruction in state after state circulated throughout the media, no one talked about privatizing FEMA.  No one complained that the government was spending too many taxpayer dollars rescuing people from death.  It was a fine way for the President to end his first term in office – one that may ultimately have won him his re-election.  And also won him a new opportunity to collaborate with the states. In the storm’s aftermath, we understand that one of the prices of having the freedom t...

Here is a cautionary tale about the risk of downplaying the importance of environmental health. A year ago, Fukushima City was a bustling city with a population of 290,000.  Its people were going about their business the day the earthquake and tsunami hit northern Japan, triggering the biggest environmental disaster most will ever experience. At first, the trains stopped running because of damage to the railways, and most of the city’s water stopped running because of ruptures in water mains. Over the next several days, a silent toxin began to spread along with word of the natural disaster.  The Fukushima nuclear power plants, 39 miles southeast of the city, began melting down, releasing radioactive particles into the air and water.  Although Fukushima remained outside the quarantined evacuation zone stretching twelve miles out from the nuclear facility, waves of radioactive cesium dust escaped the zone, flying on the winds toward the city.  As it...

Here is a cautionary tale about the risk of downplaying the importance of environmental health. A year ago, Fukushima City was a bustling city with a population of 290,000.  Its people were going about their business the day the earthquake and tsunami hit northern Japan, triggering the biggest environmental disaster most will ever experience. At first, the trains stopped running because of damage to the railways, and most of the city’s water stopped running because of ruptures in water mains. Over the next several days, a silent toxin began to spread along with word of the natural disaster.  The Fukushima nuclear power plants, 39 miles southeast of the city, began melting down, releasing radioactive particles into the air and water.  Although Fukushima remained outside the quarantined evacuation zone stretching twelve miles out from the nuclear facility, waves of radioactive cesium dust escaped the zone, flying on the winds toward the city.  As it...

The catastrophic nightmare in Japan could happen anywhere.  It is a reminder of the fragile relationship between our environment and our health. As the tsunami waves swept over the land, they swept away any pretense that we are more powerful than our environment.   The mere shifting by several feet of two constantly moving plates of the earth resulted in the death of thousands, the destruction of a region, and catastrophic worldwide effects. Experts have noted that as many as 24% of premature deaths can be attributed to environmental factors .  These result from our inadequate understanding of our environment, and/or our inability to manage its forces. While the underdeveloped world is more susceptible, the Japanese tsunami reminds us that the overdeveloped world is not immune.    The images are more powerful than their descriptions.  In the wake of such destruction, we can see -- as we do in the aftermath of hurricanes -- the breeding groun...

The catastrophic nightmare in Japan could happen anywhere.  It is a reminder of the fragile relationship between our environment and our health. As the tsunami waves swept over the land, they swept away any pretense that we are more powerful than our environment.   The mere shifting by several feet of two constantly moving plates of the earth resulted in the death of thousands, the destruction of a region, and catastrophic worldwide effects. Experts have noted that as many as 24% of premature deaths can be attributed to environmental factors .  These result from our inadequate understanding of our environment, and/or our inability to manage its forces. While the underdeveloped world is more susceptible, the Japanese tsunami reminds us that the overdeveloped world is not immune.    The images are more powerful than their descriptions.  In the wake of such destruction, we can see -- as we do in the aftermath of hurricanes -- the breeding groun...