Quantcast
ZME Science
  • CoronavirusNEW
  • News
  • Environment
    • Climate
    • Animals
    • Renewable Energy
    • Eco tips
    • Environmental Issues
    • Green Living
  • Health
    • Alternative Medicine
    • Anatomy
    • Diseases
    • Genetics
    • Mind & Brain
    • Nutrition
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
    • Feature Post
    • Art
    • Great Pics
    • Design
    • Fossil Friday
    • AstroPicture
    • GeoPicture
    • Did you know?
    • Offbeat
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
Home Health & Medicine

Climate-change disasters cost $14 billion in casualties and health care

Tibi Puiu by Tibi Puiu
November 8, 2011
in Health & Medicine, Studies

California fire In the first study of its kind, a group of researchers have quantified the financial impact of climate-change infused natural disasters on health care in the U.S., during the past decade. Floods, famines, fires and other natural disasters are reported to have cost the US government $14 billion in lost lives and and heath care costs.

“When extreme weather hits, we hear about the property damage and insurance costs,” said Kim Knowlton, a senior scientist at Natural Resources Defense Council and a co-author of the study. “The healthcare costs never end up on the tab.”

If you think these numbers are high, consider the researchers only chose a highly conservative margin, by only picking six significant climate-change related natural disasters between 2000-2009.

  • U.S. ozone air pollution, 2000-2002, $6.5 billion;
  • West Nile virus outbreak in Louisiana, 2002, $207 million;
  • Southern California wildfires, 2003, $578 million;
  • Florida hurricane season, 2004, $1.4 billion;
  • California heat wave, 2006, $5.3 billion;
  • Red River flooding in North Dakota, 2009, $20 million.

Interestingly enough, researchers estimated that the 1,689 premature deaths from all six catastrophes cost $7.9 million each—meaning casualties contributed the bulk of the climate change costs. It’s odd to put a fix price on human life, but for the sake of the study, the authors pinpointed the total cost of casualties for these six natural catastrophes alone at $13.3 billion.  Health care costs from hospitalizations, emergency room visits and consulting doctors summed up the remainder of $740 million.

ADVERTISEMENT

To put things into perspective, 14 weather disasters in the United States so far this year have cost at least $14 billion, according to Jeff Masters of the Weather Underground website. However, the study, while very interesting, manages to raise more questions than it answers. For instance, more than 287 million Americans live in areas where ground-level ozone levels climb above 80 parts-per-billion for extended periods, which probably would also amount in time to hundreds of millions in heath care as well, although it doesn’t necessarily relate to a one-time climate disaster. I believe if someone would try to factor in all the climate change factors, induced by human consumption, one would certainly come up with astronomical figures.

For Mark Conley of Raymond, Maine, whose 11-year-old son Jake suffers from asthma that gets worse with the rise in ozone air pollution, the calculation is more than dollars and cents, however.

Get more science news like this...

Join the ZME newsletter for amazing science news, features, and exclusive scoops. More than 40,000 subscribers can't be wrong.

   

“On those days that are really bad out there, he doesn’t have the lung capacity,” Conley said of the son who plays soccer, basketball and baseball. “A lot of times we have to pull him out of the game.”

The study was published in the latest edition of the journal Health Affairs.

ADVERTISEMENT

reuters 

Tags: climate changehealth carenatural disasterpollution
Tibi Puiu

Tibi Puiu

Tibi is a science journalist and co-founder of ZME Science. He writes mainly about emerging tech, physics, climate, and space. In his spare time, Tibi likes to make weird music on his computer and groom felines.

Follow ZME on social media

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • Coronavirus
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
  • More

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Coronavirus
  • News
  • Environment
    • Climate
    • Animals
    • Renewable Energy
    • Eco tips
    • Environmental Issues
    • Green Living
  • Health
    • Alternative Medicine
    • Anatomy
    • Diseases
    • Genetics
    • Mind & Brain
    • Nutrition
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
    • Feature Post
    • Art
    • Great Pics
    • Design
    • Fossil Friday
    • AstroPicture
    • GeoPicture
    • Did you know?
    • Offbeat
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.