Tag: poverty

Appalachians Are Harder Hit by Poverty Than All Other Americans—So Why Does Trump Want to Make Their Lives Worse?

The following article by Jennie Neufeld was posted on the AlterNet website August 8, 2017:

Infant mortality rates are rising, while life expectancies are plummeting.

Credit: Travis Dove for The New York Times

First came deindustrialization and mass unemployment, then the opioid crisis. Now a new report from HealthAffairs reveals that infant mortality rates in Appalachia dwarf those in the rest of the country. Life expectancies are considerably shorter as well.

Looking at an array of data, the study finds that infant mortality was as much 16 percent higher in Appalachia, while life expectancies had dropped by as much as 2.4 years between 1990 and 2013. Poor black men from the region are expected to live 13 years less than white women from low-poverty areas elsewhere in the United States. Continue reading “Appalachians Are Harder Hit by Poverty Than All Other Americans—So Why Does Trump Want to Make Their Lives Worse?”

Why poverty is not a personal choice, but a reflection of society

The following article by Shervin Assari was posted on the Conversation website June 30, 2017:

A homeless camp in Los Angeles, where homelessness has risen 23 percent in the past year, in May 2017. AP Photo/Richard Vogel

As the Senate prepares to modify its version of the health care bill, now is a good time to back up and examine why we as a nation are so divided about providing health care, especially to the poor.

I believe one reason the United States is cutting spending on health insurance and safety nets that protect poor and marginalized people is because of American culture, which overemphasizes individual responsibility. Our culture does this to the point that it ignores the effect of root causes shaped by society and beyond the control of the individual. How laypeople define and attribute poverty may not be that much different from the way U.S. policymakers in the Senate see poverty. Continue reading “Why poverty is not a personal choice, but a reflection of society”