“Public health disparities provide an important lens for understanding social and political change in the USA,” a recent study in the journal Nature concludes. “Using individual-level medical data and death records, this study shows that conservative Americans experienced worsening health and higher mortality than liberals during the 2010s.”
…Liberals and conservatives had roughly equal health outcomes as recently as the early 2010s. But by the mid-to-late 2010s, researchers saw a “substantial” divide emerge with heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and strokes. COVID didn’t create the phenomenon. It just made it impossible to ignore…
The authors identify two possible causes for the recent disparity. First, less healthy people have increasingly found their way into the conservative side of the aisle. That makes sense, given how the right responded when former first lady Michelle Obama suggested that maybe children should eat a vegetable now and then. You’ll pry their Arby’s from their cold, dead hands. Literally.
But that’s only half the story. The other half is even more disturbing: Conservative politics itself may now be a health risk.
The authors frame political belief as a possible “social determinant of health,” alongside things like income, education, geography, and access to care. In plain English: Your politics may now help predict whether you get treated, whether you listen to your doctor, whether you trust medicine, and ultimately whether you live longer. - Daily Kos
Saturday, June 27, 2026
Right-wing Americans have worse health outcomes
But it’s more complicated than you might think, given that the disparity started to show only fairly recently.
Republicans who listened to Trump and not Dr. Fauci died, comparatively, like flies.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nber.org/papers/w30512
Did you see the report that an estimated 5 million people dropped or lost their Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage after enhanced, pandemic-era tax subsidies expired ?
ReplyDeleteYa gotta think this will impact Red States hard as Texas and Florida saw the largest growth in ACA enrollment after enhanced federal subsidies took effect in 2021, and they stand to see many of those consumers drop their insurance coverage now that the federal subsidies have ended. With roughly 4.5 million people in Florida and 3.7 million in Texas previously receiving premium subsidies, that drop has to be significant.
Obamacare provided vaccines at no cost .... will people shell out $60 for a flu vaccine or $400 for the shingles shots ? Wanna bet that people will think "Fill my gas tank twice or get a shot", I gotta buy gas. They will get sick, need medical care and get a big bill. Will they pay the bill ?
That is a concern for medical clinics ... just ask the Mankato Clinic which just announced a layoff of 10% of its staff (about 100 people). They cited the reason for the layoffs as the inability to collect bills.
A friend in another state just retired after 30 years as a police officer rising to the ranks to be Deputy Chief in a major metropolitan city ... she doesn't get health insurance until she hits Medicare and found out that the monthly premium would be $1,100 ... so she got a job that has benefits ... she is now working as a crossing guard. One day, she is on tv talking about a drug bust or murder, now is crossing school kids.
We need a better healthcare system that is affordable.