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Thread: People live longer in blue states than red; new study points to impact-state policies

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    Werewolf People live longer in blue states than red; new study points to impact-state policies


    Noam N. Levey 10 hrs ago

    Weak environmental protections, safety rules and labor and civil rights protections may be cutting lives short in conservative states and deepening the divide between red and blue states, according to a new study on links between life expectancy and state policy.

    The report, published Tuesday in the health policy journal Milbank Quarterly, finds that states where residents live longest, including California, tend to have much more stringent environmental laws, tougher tobacco and firearms regulations and more protections for workers, minorities and LGBTQ residents.

    Since the mid-1980s, the gap among U.S. states in how long their residents live has widened, reversing decades of progress toward greater equality.

    One group of states, mostly in the Northeast and the West, have seen average life expectancies rise relatively steadily, placing them on par with the wealthiest nations of Western Europe. Those states tend to have more stringent regulations.

    By contrast, the life expectancy in states with more conservative health, labor and social policies — concentrated in the South andAppalachia — have stagnated in recent decades, according to the study, which adds to growing research on health and political disparities between states.

    California has among the highest average life expectancies in the country, at 81.3 years. It also had the most liberal policies in the nation in 2014, the most recent year the study analyzed, according to the system the authors developed to rank states.

    Although the study's authors note that they can't prove that state policies caused the gap in life expectancy, the correlation is a persistent one across multiple states and several decades.

    “It’s disheartening to see another example of a missed opportunity by policymakers,” said David Radley, senior scientist at the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund who studies differences in state health policies and the effects on people’s health. Radley was not involved in Milbank report.

    The new report may help shape efforts to rethink government policy in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, which has exposed deep structural weaknesses in the U.S. as well as yawning gaps in many state safety nets.

    “The overarching conclusion is clear: States that have invested in their populations’ social and economic well-being by enacting more liberal policies over time tend to be the same states that have made considerable gains in life expectancy,” the study’s authors wrote.

    Even before the current public health crisis, life expectancy in the U.S. had been declining, setting America apart from most other wealthy nations. That decline has fueled tough questions about domestic policy.

    The opioid epidemic, which has had a devastating impact on regions of the country already hit hard by economic stagnation, has been the focus of a lot of the discussion about that shift.

    But Syracuse University sociologist Jennifer Karas Montez, the lead author of the new study, said the impact of opioids may be only part of the story.

    “When we look at what is happening with life expectancy, the tendency is to focus on individual explanations about what Americans are doing,” she said, noting obesity and smoking behaviors as well as drug use. “But state policies are so important.”

    To assess what role these policies may be playing, Montez and other researchers reviewed more than 120 policies enacted by states over the years and assessed whether each policy choice in each state was more liberal or more conservative.

    Policies included housing rules such as rent control; health and welfare policies such as Medicaid eligibility and welfare limits; labor protections such as paid sick leave and minimum wages; and civil rights policies such as gender discrimination bans, hate-crime laws and same-sex marriage.

    They also looked at state abortion restrictions, tax policy, education spending, immigration rules and gun control laws.

    Each state was ranked by how liberal or conservative its policies overall have been, going back to 1970.

    The researchers then compared these findings to trends in life expectancy in all 50 states.

    Montez said the trends they saw were unmistakable. They also correlated with important points in the nation’s political history.

    Through the 1960s and 1970s, for example, state life expectancies generally converged. That trend began to reverse in the mid-1980s, around the same time that a conservative movement, led by President Reagan and mirrored in many state capitols, became ascendant.

    The gap between states accelerated further after 2010, when sweeping Republican victories in state elections shifted policies further to the right in many places
    .

    By 2017, residents of the state with the highest life expectancy — Hawaii — were living on average seven years longer than residents of the state with the lowest life expectancy — Mississippi.


    By contrast, the gap between the best- and worst-performing states in 1984 was less than five years.

    The gap is not only about policy: States where people live longer tend to be wealthier and have better educated populations, for example.

    But Montez noted that decisions by state leaders have helped shape those factors.

    “States like Connecticut are investing in their population, investing in schools, setting an economic floor for their workers, discouraging behaviors like smoking that kill people,” she explained. “You have other states like Mississippi and Oklahoma that aren’t doing any of this.”

    In Connecticut, whose policies have become steadily more liberal over the last half century, life expectancy increased 5.8 years between 1980 and 2017 to 80.7 years.

    In Oklahoma, which has become markedly more conservative, life expectancy increased only 2.2 years over the same period, reaching 75.8 years in 2017.


    Identifying which state policies may have the most impact on how long people live is difficult, the researchers concede. But the study points to a group of policies that appear to correlate most closely with longer lives.

    These include some unsurprising candidates such as tougher environmental laws, which the authors note may protect people from toxic substances. The authors also found a correlation between longer life expectancy and labor policies that increase economic security, such as a minimum wage.

    Tougher gun laws appear to track with longer life expectancies, the study notes, as do stricter tobacco controls.

    The authors also point to civil rights laws, which they suggest may protect residents from ill health related to persistent stress.

    And they found a correlation between longer life expectancy and better access to abortion, which the study notes may reflect other research that has linked abortion restrictions to women’s poverty and ill health.

    more @ source
    "There is no question former President Trump bears moral responsibility. His supporters stormed the Capitol because of the unhinged falsehoods he shouted into the world’s largest megaphone," McConnell wrote. "His behavior during and after the chaos was also unconscionable, from attacking Vice President Mike Pence during the riot to praising the criminals after it ended."



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    Quote Originally Posted by Bill View Post

    Noam N. Levey 10 hrs ago

    Weak environmental protections, safety rules and labor and civil rights protections may be cutting lives short in conservative states and deepening the divide between red and blue states, according to a new study on links between life expectancy and state policy.

    The report, published Tuesday in the health policy journal Milbank Quarterly, finds that states where residents live longest, including California, tend to have much more stringent environmental laws, tougher tobacco and firearms regulations and more protections for workers, minorities and LGBTQ residents.

    Since the mid-1980s, the gap among U.S. states in how long their residents live has widened, reversing decades of progress toward greater equality.

    One group of states, mostly in the Northeast and the West, have seen average life expectancies rise relatively steadily, placing them on par with the wealthiest nations of Western Europe. Those states tend to have more stringent regulations.

    By contrast, the life expectancy in states with more conservative health, labor and social policies — concentrated in the South andAppalachia — have stagnated in recent decades, according to the study, which adds to growing research on health and political disparities between states.

    California has among the highest average life expectancies in the country, at 81.3 years. It also had the most liberal policies in the nation in 2014, the most recent year the study analyzed, according to the system the authors developed to rank states.

    Although the study's authors note that they can't prove that state policies caused the gap in life expectancy, the correlation is a persistent one across multiple states and several decades.

    “It’s disheartening to see another example of a missed opportunity by policymakers,” said David Radley, senior scientist at the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund who studies differences in state health policies and the effects on people’s health. Radley was not involved in Milbank report.

    The new report may help shape efforts to rethink government policy in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, which has exposed deep structural weaknesses in the U.S. as well as yawning gaps in many state safety nets.

    “The overarching conclusion is clear: States that have invested in their populations’ social and economic well-being by enacting more liberal policies over time tend to be the same states that have made considerable gains in life expectancy,” the study’s authors wrote.

    Even before the current public health crisis, life expectancy in the U.S. had been declining, setting America apart from most other wealthy nations. That decline has fueled tough questions about domestic policy.

    The opioid epidemic, which has had a devastating impact on regions of the country already hit hard by economic stagnation, has been the focus of a lot of the discussion about that shift.

    But Syracuse University sociologist Jennifer Karas Montez, the lead author of the new study, said the impact of opioids may be only part of the story.

    “When we look at what is happening with life expectancy, the tendency is to focus on individual explanations about what Americans are doing,” she said, noting obesity and smoking behaviors as well as drug use. “But state policies are so important.”

    To assess what role these policies may be playing, Montez and other researchers reviewed more than 120 policies enacted by states over the years and assessed whether each policy choice in each state was more liberal or more conservative.

    Policies included housing rules such as rent control; health and welfare policies such as Medicaid eligibility and welfare limits; labor protections such as paid sick leave and minimum wages; and civil rights policies such as gender discrimination bans, hate-crime laws and same-sex marriage.

    They also looked at state abortion restrictions, tax policy, education spending, immigration rules and gun control laws.

    Each state was ranked by how liberal or conservative its policies overall have been, going back to 1970.

    The researchers then compared these findings to trends in life expectancy in all 50 states.

    Montez said the trends they saw were unmistakable. They also correlated with important points in the nation’s political history.

    Through the 1960s and 1970s, for example, state life expectancies generally converged. That trend began to reverse in the mid-1980s, around the same time that a conservative movement, led by President Reagan and mirrored in many state capitols, became ascendant.

    The gap between states accelerated further after 2010, when sweeping Republican victories in state elections shifted policies further to the right in many places
    .

    By 2017, residents of the state with the highest life expectancy — Hawaii — were living on average seven years longer than residents of the state with the lowest life expectancy — Mississippi.


    By contrast, the gap between the best- and worst-performing states in 1984 was less than five years.

    The gap is not only about policy: States where people live longer tend to be wealthier and have better educated populations, for example.

    But Montez noted that decisions by state leaders have helped shape those factors.

    “States like Connecticut are investing in their population, investing in schools, setting an economic floor for their workers, discouraging behaviors like smoking that kill people,” she explained. “You have other states like Mississippi and Oklahoma that aren’t doing any of this.”

    In Connecticut, whose policies have become steadily more liberal over the last half century, life expectancy increased 5.8 years between 1980 and 2017 to 80.7 years.

    In Oklahoma, which has become markedly more conservative, life expectancy increased only 2.2 years over the same period, reaching 75.8 years in 2017.


    Identifying which state policies may have the most impact on how long people live is difficult, the researchers concede. But the study points to a group of policies that appear to correlate most closely with longer lives.

    These include some unsurprising candidates such as tougher environmental laws, which the authors note may protect people from toxic substances. The authors also found a correlation between longer life expectancy and labor policies that increase economic security, such as a minimum wage.

    Tougher gun laws appear to track with longer life expectancies, the study notes, as do stricter tobacco controls.

    The authors also point to civil rights laws, which they suggest may protect residents from ill health related to persistent stress.

    And they found a correlation between longer life expectancy and better access to abortion, which the study notes may reflect other research that has linked abortion restrictions to women’s poverty and ill health.

    more @ source

    Republicans do love to live in shitholes

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    lol, they may, but they won't be living there as long, that's for sure..........

    SEVEN YEARS is a long time...........
    "There is no question former President Trump bears moral responsibility. His supporters stormed the Capitol because of the unhinged falsehoods he shouted into the world’s largest megaphone," McConnell wrote. "His behavior during and after the chaos was also unconscionable, from attacking Vice President Mike Pence during the riot to praising the criminals after it ended."



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    It’s an interesting argument that policies that produce the highest cost of living, create the highest poverty rate and force much of the middle class to leave is best for longest life span.

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    Quote Originally Posted by cawacko View Post
    It’s an interesting argument that policies that produce the highest cost of living, create the highest poverty rate and force much of the middle class to leave is best for longest life span.
    It is. For Democrat politicians. Citizens? Not so much.

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    Quote Originally Posted by cawacko View Post
    It’s an interesting argument that policies that produce the highest cost of living, create the highest poverty rate and force much of the middle class to leave is best for longest life span.
    Red states have higher poverty rates than blue states. As for cost of living, that isn't always an accurate reflection of quality of life. European countries with a higher cost of living than America usually have better health, education, employment, and so on.

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    Quote Originally Posted by StoneByStone View Post
    Red states have higher poverty rates than blue states. As for cost of living, that isn't always an accurate reflection of quality of life. European countries with a higher cost of living than America usually have better health, education, employment, and so on.
    California has the highest poverty rate in the country. More people have left the state for years than migrated here because of the cost of living. Raising the minimum wage to $15 does nothing when a one bedroom apartment costs $3K/mnth. You think there’s less stress in California like the authors claim because we have liberal policies? Come live here and say that.

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    Good, the Sooner they're GONE the BETTER
    ONE-N-DONE, YOU GOT PLAYED; Time To Play-On
    Remember ... ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES ... So STFU Bitch

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    Quote Originally Posted by cawacko View Post
    California has the highest poverty rate in the country. More people have left the state for years than migrated here because of the cost of living. Raising the minimum wage to $15 does nothing when a one bedroom apartment costs $3K/mnth. You think there’s less stress in California like the authors claim because we have liberal policies? Come live here and say that.
    California is one state. It's the exception, not the rule.

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    Quote Originally Posted by StoneByStone View Post
    California is one state. It's the exception, not the rule.
    Except its the largest state in the Union with 40 million people. I can help you out here without some bogus study. Generally speaking rich people are healthier and live longer lives. Thus areas with more wealthier people will have longer life spans.

    Now if you want to give me a study that compares the life span of rich Asians in Ohio compared to rich Asians in California. Compares poor white people in New York to poor white people in Kentucky. Compares poor black people in Connecticut to poor black people in Georgia and we have material differences then that is saying something.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bourbon View Post
    Good, the Sooner they're GONE the BETTER
    Gone like all the people in those states dying?

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    They don't live longer it just feels like they live longer.

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    Coincides with the fact that 9 out of 10 poorest states in America are red states .. needing more government bailouts
    AMERICAN HISTORY ITSELF IS A TESTAMENT TO THE STRENGTH AND RESILIENCE OF AFRICAN PEOPLE. WE, ALONG WITH THE COURGE AND SACRIFICES OF CONSCIOUS WHITE AMERICANS, LIKE VIOLA LIUZZO, EVERETT DIRKSEN, AND MANY OTHERS, HAVE FOUGHT AND DIED TOGETHER FOR OUR FREEDOM, AND FOR OUR SURVIVAL.

    In America, rights are are not determined by what is just, fair, equitable, honest, nor by what Jesus would do. Rights are determined ONLY by what you can DEMAND.

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    Quote Originally Posted by cawacko View Post
    California has the highest poverty rate in the country. More people have left the state for years than migrated here because of the cost of living. Raising the minimum wage to $15 does nothing when a one bedroom apartment costs $3K/mnth. You think there’s less stress in California like the authors claim because we have liberal policies? Come live here and say that.
    WRONG .. that distinction goes to Mississippi and Louisiana.

    Why are you still there if you hate it so much?
    AMERICAN HISTORY ITSELF IS A TESTAMENT TO THE STRENGTH AND RESILIENCE OF AFRICAN PEOPLE. WE, ALONG WITH THE COURGE AND SACRIFICES OF CONSCIOUS WHITE AMERICANS, LIKE VIOLA LIUZZO, EVERETT DIRKSEN, AND MANY OTHERS, HAVE FOUGHT AND DIED TOGETHER FOR OUR FREEDOM, AND FOR OUR SURVIVAL.

    In America, rights are are not determined by what is just, fair, equitable, honest, nor by what Jesus would do. Rights are determined ONLY by what you can DEMAND.

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    Quote Originally Posted by blackascoal View Post
    WRONG .. that distinction goes to Mississippi and Louisiana.

    Why are you still there if you hate it so much?
    ELLE OH ELLE!!

    It's called the Supplemental Poverty Rate which is the updated version of tracking poverty and California is number one.

    It's funny how you think saying that means I hate the state and shouldn't live here. Why would anyone live in a state then, according to your logic, that doesn't vote the same way they do?

    Why do you, or anyone, live in America if you have disagreements or issues with its politics which equates to hating America by your logic?

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