Today’s Managing Health Care Costs Number is 4400
A report in this weekend’s New York Times notes that air pollution in China is more widespread than previously believed - 3/8 of the population lives in areas with air pollution rated on the average “unhealthy” in the US; 92% of the population. 1.6 million people die prematurely each year in China due to air pollution. That’s a staggering number; I think it might have more impact to say that air pollution kills 4400 people a day.
Here’s a link to the full report.
I’ve noted before that environmental protection saves substantial dollars in the economy, and we’ve made huge strides in the United States. China is focused right now on maintaining its high growth rate. The economy (and health care) require better environmental stewardship.
Speaking of environmental stewardship, I’m pretty embarrassed to be a citizen of Belmont, MA, where our inadequate efforts to control water runoff mean that our streams, which feed the Mystic River, just received an “F” from the Environmental Protection Agency. According to a Boston Globe columnist,
On many days, just getting splashed with the water coming out of the culvert flowing into Little Pond, which in turn flows into Alewife and the Mystic, poses a health hazard.
Clean water, like clean air, is important to the health of the community. Both are a community good - the air I breathe and the water I swim in, or don’t, is profoundly influenced by activities far from my hometown. Funding environmental protection locally makes it more likely that some towns won’t make a big enough investment. Cap and Trade for sulphur dioxide has also shown us that we can use the market to be sure that incremental dollar spend on cleaning air (or water) are spend where they can do the most good.
So, I’m pretty embarrassed to live in a town whose streams are called “poop water” in our newspaper. There is a health and economic price we pay for sending raw sewage into our streams, or nitrogen and sulphur dioxide and particulates into the air.
