Barrasso: Red Tape Increases Unemployment & Threatens Public Health “If we want to make Americans healthy, we need to get Americans back to work. We need to get the EPA out of the business of making folks unemployed across this country.”
include substantial health consequences. Physicians who treat individuals who lose jobs as they near retirement should consider the loss of employment a potential risk factor for adverse vascular health changes.’
“So what’s that? Well, it’s stroke, high blood pressure, heart disease, major killers, major things that result in disability and long term problems—and an increase in the cost of care.
“So, let’s look also now at the impact of joblessness on children.
“The National Center for Health Statistics concluded ‘Children in poor families were four times as likely to be in fair or poor health as children in families that are not poor.’
“Well I’ve have seen firsthand how economic challenges affect Americans’ health and the quality of life. In my medical opinion, this country faces a worsening health threat from unemployment.
“Now, well over 30 months of unemployment rates well over eight percent, I have urged the EPA to seriously consider the impacts of these rules and the new rules they continue to come out with—these rules and how they have a bad impact families, on pregnant women, on children and the elderly.
“The EPA has not looked at these serious health impacts that their rules result in. They continue, the EPA continue to hide behind computer models that churn out inflated fictitious so called benefits of health. The time to get serious about public health is now.
“Now in fact, there was a USA Today article on Monday of last week. Monday, April 30, 2012 ‘Police Tie Domestic Violence to Economy. Survey: Incidents Rise After Financial Collapse.’
“The article states that ‘Police are encountering more domestic violence related to the sluggish economy, a national survey of law enforcement agencies find.’
“The article quotes Camden, New Jersey Police Chief Scott Thomson who stated it was ‘impossible to separate the economy from the domestic turmoil in the city where unemployment is 19%.’
“Camden Police Chief, Scott Thomson went on to say ‘When stresses in the home increase because of unemployment and other hardships, domestic violence increases. We see it on the street.’
“These types of reports of increased domestic violence due to unemployment are not just being reported in Camden, New Jersey.
“The article cites Chuck Wexler, executive director of a Washington-based law enforcement think-tank, who expressed serious concerns with the rising violence.
“He says ‘You are dealing with households in which people have lost jobs or are in fear of losing their jobs. This is an added stress that can push people to the breaking point.’
“And I agree. It is certainly what I saw as well in my days of medical training and medical practice.
“If we want to make Americans healthy, we need to get Americans back to work. We need to get the EPA out of the business of making folks unemployed across this country.
“Each new job is a job that will put food on the table for struggling families, and help keep medical costs under control. New jobs will keep thousands of children out
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