Global warming solutions make sense for reasons far beyond the effects of global warming. For over a year, the nation has been debating heath care reform. Global warming solutions are almost never included in the health care debate, but they should be. Implementing global warming solutions will lower health care costs and put money back in Americans’ pockets.
Here’s the logic: Asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, and pulmonary disease have all been linked to air pollution. Each year, Americans treated for those diseases translate to hundreds of millions of dollars in health care costs. Switching to renewable fuels (a global warming solution) will reduce all sorts of toxic air pollution, not just greenhouse gasses. Reduced air pollution means that fewer people will be stricken by asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, and pulmonary disease. This translates to lower health care costs and lower insurance premiums. This is to say nothing of the fact the individuals stricken by these ailments will not be made to suffer.
A three-year study released by the RAND corporation found that: “California’s dirty air caused more than $193 million in hospital-based medical care from 2005 to 2007 as people sought help for problems such as asthma and pneumonia that are triggered by elevated pollution levels.”
During those three years, the most common medical emergency was asthma triggered by elevated air pollution. Children below the age of 18 visited California emergency rooms 17,000 times with cases of asthma. But, those 17,000 cases of asthma were not the most costly or life threatening ailments. Acute bronchitis, pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease accounted for nearly one-third of the $193 million spent.