Two Hundred Thousand Poverty Linked Deaths in a Year in the USA Call for Urgent Remedial Actions
According to a recent study as many as 183,000 poverty linked deaths took place in the USA in 2019. As this study has only covered population higher than 15 years of age, the total number of deaths is
By Bharat Dogra
The figure of 183,000 poverty related deaths was provided in a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine (Journal of the American Medical Association) on April 17, 2023. This research paper titled ‘Novel Estimates of Mortality Associated with Poverty in the US’ has been authored by David Brady of the University of California, Ulrich Kohler of the University of Potsdam and Hui Zheng of the University of Ohio. Drawing attention to the fact that these deaths are 10 times the number of homicides, the authors wonder why these do not receive the same attention. This estimate of mortality linked to poverty is regarded to be a conservative estimate by them. If cumulative poverty is considered, then mortality can be much higher.
Such a high number of poverty linked deaths is shocking in a country which is very rich with one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, which has been very well endowed with plentiful natural resources and whose currency has the exorbitant privilege of a universal (although now shrinking) acceptance in world. Hence this study has attracted a lot of attention. In mid-June this got much attention in a conference of the Poor People’s Campaign in the USA where there was talk of ‘policy murder’.
This study was based on 2019 data and after that there was the increased COVID and COVID response related mortality too, which is likely to have affected poor people more. The latest available data for the last two years reveals a significant decline in life expectation which is a rare phenomenon. For 2020-21 life expectancy declined to 76.1 years from 77, the lowest since 1996. This was on top of a higher decline of 1.8 years in the previous year, and if you take these two years together, then you have the highest decline in the entire century (2.7 years) from 1921-23 onwards.
Scholars are asking—why the USA didn’t have a recovery from the COVID height like other comparable countries. They are also asking—why the life-expectancy in the USA in recent years has been consistently lower than in comparable countries, despite the fact that per capita health expenditure in the USA has been much higher? Does this not point to factors like higher poverty levels in the USA in turn related to much higher inequalities, as well to very high high levels of profiteering including fraud in the health sector?
During the COVID times several protective measures were introduced to reduce hunger, to prevent evictions, to reduce child poverty which have been withdrawn or are in the process of being withdrawn now. This can rather suddenly increase the risks for some of the poorest sections including the homeless.
However it is important to emphasize that the situation was quite serious even in the pre-COVID phase and the 183,000 poverty-related deaths figure is also for a largely pre-COVID year 2019. One aspect of poverty related deaths relates to the ability of people or households to meet emergency expenses. According to a Federal Reserve Report of 2018 on the economic well-being of US households about 40% of adults in the country would not be able to meet a $400 emergency with cash, saving or even a credit card charge that they could quickly pay off. About 27% of those surveyed would need to borrow money or sell something to find the $400 needed, while 12% would not be able to arrange this at all. Four years later, in year 2022 a YouGov survey for the Economic Security Project found 49% saying that they would be ill-equipped to cover a $400 emergency.
Around the same time Bankrate’s Annual Emergency Fund Report said that 57% of US adults are unable to afford a $1000 emergency expense. This report also stated that 68% of people are worried they wouldn’t be able to cover their living expenses for just one month if they lost their primary source of income.
A study by the Urban Institute in 2018 found that nearly 40 per cent of non-elderly adults and their families in USA struggled to afford at least one basic need for health care, housing, utilities or food in 2017. In this study based on a well-being and basic needs survey of the age-group 18-64, 23% said that they were food insecure in the last 12 months. 18% struggled to pay medical bills while almost the same percentage decided to go without some required medical treatment due to costs.
Millions of people in USA are finding it difficult to afford basic utilities like water (and sewerage) or electricity. A headline in the Guardian ( 23 June 2020) said—Revealed—Millions of Americans can’t afford water as bills rise 80%. This report, based on a study by this newspaper in collaboration with Consumer Reports and others, said that in some city neighborhoods over 40% of residents may be saddled with unpaid water bills. One report has stated that over 50,000 households in Detroit lost their water connections since 2014 because they could not pay their bills. A Bloomberg report was headlined—A tsunami of shut-offs–20 million US homes are behind on energy bills. About one-sixth of American households are behind on their utility bills. A Washington Post report dated October 1, 2020 was headlined—Millions of Americans risk losing power and water as massive unpaid utility bills pile up—17.9 million may be at risk of shut-offs as many state-protections end.
With a population of 330 million and with 128 million households, USA has about 150 million people with chronic health problems or chronic disease. There are 5.2 million vehicle crashes a year, or one per minute. 40 million medically consulted injuries and poisoning episodes are reported in a year, one per 3 households.
In recent times child poverty levels have been found to be 1.5 times higher than adult poverty levels. As for senior citizens, the Elderly Economic Security Standard Index informs that in 2016 a majority of them lacked the “financial resources required to meet basic needs.”
The Eviction Lab, Princeton University, has estimated that there are 3.7 million eviction cases in the USA in a typical year, or 7 per minute. In pandemic times moratoriums on evictions helped to prevent increase in evictions, but now that these are being phased out the threat of higher evictions looms large.
Poverty and poverty related distress should not be examined only as an economic phenomenon, but should be seen together with important social aspects, as in terms of lived experiences of people social and economic aspects are closely related. Certain ethnic and racial groups suffer much more from poverty and related problems. This has also been emphasized by the Poor People’s Campaign which has also linked high levels of violence in society to poverty and socio-economic inequalities.
Nearly 28 per cent of US households are single person households. A survey by Cigna before the onset of the recent pandemic revealed that almost half of the adults felt lonely. A more recent Cigna-commissioned survey on the post pandemic situation by Morning Consult revealed that 58% of US adults are affected by loneliness. A 2019 survey found 58% of people in the country felt that no one knew them well.
According to the National Centre for Injury Prevention and Control nearly 4.8 million intimate partner related assaults take place in a year. One in five women experience rape in their lifetime, one in three women experience physical violence, one in two experience psychological violence.
A report on child abuse is made every 10 seconds. Authorities trace 656,000 victims of child maltreatment in a year, but the problem is bigger. More than 4 million referrals are made to child protection agencies in a year.
o paid at the $5 a month level, and we will send you both the PDF and e-Pub versions of “Government” - The Biggest Scam in History… Exposed! and a coupon code for 10% off anything in the Government-Scam.com/Store.
Go paid at the $50 a year level, and we will send you a free paperback edition of Etienne’s book “Government” - The Biggest Scam in History… Exposed! AND a 64GB Liberator flash drive if you live in the US. If you are international, we will give you a $10 credit towards shipping if you agree to pay the remainder.
Support us at the $250 Founding Member Level and get an Everything Bundle – The Sampler of Liberty! - Get it free by going paid as a Founding Member!
Give me Liberty... and give me more! The Everything Bundle includes the latest version of our flagship book on government, along with a collection of potentially life-altering introductions to voluntaryism, agorism and peaceful anarchy.
“Government” – The Biggest Scam in History… Exposed! by Etienne de la Boetie2
Anarchy Exposed! - A former police officer reports on his investigative journeyby Shepard the Voluntaryist and Larken Rose
The Most Dangerous Superstition by Larken Rose
Sedition, Subversion and Sabotage – Field Manual #1 by Ben Stone, The Bad Quaker, and Ken Yamarashi
What Anarchy Isn’t– A short pamphlet by Larken Rose… The perfect introduction to peaceful anarchy
Three Friends Free – A Children’s Story of Voluntaryism
The Liberator is a 64GB wafer flash drive filled with books, documentaries, podcasts, MP3s, short videos, and music from the truth movement’s leading artists. The credit card-sized format makes it convenient to keep in your wallet to share and copy easily.
