221st Podcast: NRDC's Dr. Vijay Limaye Discusses Measuring the Health-Related Costs of the Climate Crisis (January 14, 2021)
www.thehealthcarepolicypodcast.com
Listen Now 2020 was yet another record setting temperature year tying 2016 as the warmest on record. 2020 was strikingly warmer than 2019, by about .75 degrees Fahrenheit, and some parts of Arctic were warmer by more than 10 degrees Fahrenheit. 2020 also set a US record for $1 billion climate disasters numbering 22 and totaling $95 billion damages (the previous records were 16 in 2017 and more than double the 41-year average of $45 billion). Seven of the 22 events were hurricanes or tropical storms several others were wildfires that, for example, burned over 10 million acres in CA or double the previous record of 4.1 million acres in 2018. Despite increasingly extreme climate-crisis events and the mounting health harms caused, including vector-borne diseases (think: COVID-19), federal policy makers remain non-responsive including, for example, MedPAC (Medicare Payment Advisory Commission) and MACPAC (Medicaid And CHIP Payment Advisory Commission). These two independent Congressional commissions, given broad authority to address issues affecting Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries or our most vulnerable citizens: children; pregnant women; and, the elderly, have never discussed, much less mentioned the climate crisis despite the fact these programs bear the lion share of climate crisis-related health care costs.
221st Podcast: NRDC's Dr. Vijay Limaye Discusses Measuring the Health-Related Costs of the Climate Crisis (January 14, 2021)
221st Podcast: NRDC's Dr. Vijay Limaye…
221st Podcast: NRDC's Dr. Vijay Limaye Discusses Measuring the Health-Related Costs of the Climate Crisis (January 14, 2021)
Listen Now 2020 was yet another record setting temperature year tying 2016 as the warmest on record. 2020 was strikingly warmer than 2019, by about .75 degrees Fahrenheit, and some parts of Arctic were warmer by more than 10 degrees Fahrenheit. 2020 also set a US record for $1 billion climate disasters numbering 22 and totaling $95 billion damages (the previous records were 16 in 2017 and more than double the 41-year average of $45 billion). Seven of the 22 events were hurricanes or tropical storms several others were wildfires that, for example, burned over 10 million acres in CA or double the previous record of 4.1 million acres in 2018. Despite increasingly extreme climate-crisis events and the mounting health harms caused, including vector-borne diseases (think: COVID-19), federal policy makers remain non-responsive including, for example, MedPAC (Medicare Payment Advisory Commission) and MACPAC (Medicaid And CHIP Payment Advisory Commission). These two independent Congressional commissions, given broad authority to address issues affecting Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries or our most vulnerable citizens: children; pregnant women; and, the elderly, have never discussed, much less mentioned the climate crisis despite the fact these programs bear the lion share of climate crisis-related health care costs.