Today’s Managing Health Care Costs Number is either $6 million or $37 billion
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| Yes -this is Beijing. We don't want the US to look like this again! |
The Supremesmade more health care news yesterday – they sent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) back to the drawing board to do more cost benefit analysis for its airborne mercury regulations promulgated under the Clean Air Act. The news articles note that the annual cost of this regulation, known not-so-fondly as “coal killing regulations” by Mitch McConnell and others, will be about $9 billion. Coal-fired power plants are the largest source of mercury pollution, and mercury is well known to be toxic to nerves. Opponents claim that the economic benefit will be a mere $6 million – an absolutely terrible deal.
The EPA notes on its web site
· The value of the air quality improvements for people's health alone totals $37 billion to $90 billion each year. That means that for every dollar spent to reduce this pollution, Americans get $3-9 in health benefits.
· The benefits are widely distributed and are especially important to minority and low income populations who are disproportionately impacted by asthma and other debilitating health conditions.
· Up to 540,000 missed work or "sick" days will be avoided each year, enhancing productivity and lowering health care costs for American families.
Environmental protection bills have striking impact on public health, and public health investments tend to have much larger payoffs than interventions in the medical space. The reduction in smog in Los Angeles didn’t just mean people could see the mountains – it saved lives. Some researchers estimate that 6% of all mortality is due to air pollution!
There’s substantial evidence that decrease in lead exposure, much due to regulations under the Clean Air Act, actually decreased violence – and even teen pregnancy. I’ve previously written about the evidence of public health benefits of efforts to decrease carbon emissions.
I don’t how much the mercury regulations will really save in terms of health care costs – it’s probably a lot more than $6 million,but probably lower than $90 billion a year. The mercury rules apparently remain in effect while the case is reviewed by a lower court.
