“In an ideal world, politics and health would be independent of each other and it wouldn’t matter whether one lives in an area that voted for one party or another. But that is no longer the case. From our data, we can see that the risk of premature death is higher for people living in a county that voted Republican.”

—Haider Warraich, MD, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

There are other party-aligned factors that affect mortality too—like Democrats’ greater willingness to believe in scientifically proven preventive health measures and act accordingly. Covid made us all unwitting participants in that fatal experiment.

 But this study from Brigham was pre-pandemic, covering 2001 to 2019, using data from 3,000 counties and all 50 states. It analyzed mortality rates from the most common causes of death, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, lower-respiratory-tract diseases, flu, pneumonia, and kidney disease.

The study, which was published in June, revealed a “mortality gap” between red and blue counties. While death rates dropped overall in that time frame, they dropped by 22 percent in counties that voted Democratic, but just 11 percent in counties that voted Republican.

The mortality gap began widening after the passage of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). That’s when Democratic-led states led the trend of expanding Medicaid, to get health insurance to more of their residents. By now 40 states have seen the light. But not Tennessee.

 Dr. Haider Warraich, who wrote the study, says it “suggests that the mortality gap is a modern phenomenon, not an inevitability. At the start of our study, we saw little difference in mortality rates in Democratic and Republican counties. We hope that our findings will open people’s eyes and show the real effect that politics and health policy can have on people’s lives.”

Let’s save lives, Tennessee. Vote D.

Allison
[email protected]