All over the news in recent days we've seen commentary exalting or decrying the newly signed Inflation Reduction Act, aimed primarily at lowering inflation through health and environmental costs -- some later rather than sooner, and even as more news rolls in of the record ice melts in Greenland and from the Alps in Europe.
We've been on both sides of the praise and criticism.
The legislation is a massive win for health consumers -- especially those on Medicare. And it's a win for those of us concerned about the environment. It's just not enough. But it is a good start, for all of us.
Like politics, all health care and climate change are local.
We pointed out last week that analysts estimate the IRA, as the new legislation is known, will constrain consumer costs on drugs and medical services. It will help 13 million people pay privately bought insurance premiums. It gives Medicare the power to negotiate its costs for some pharmaceuticals, and Medicare beneficiaries' out-of-pocket prescription costs will be limited to $2,000 starting in 2025.
We also pointed out that analysts say the new law will constrain costs over the long haul for energy and weather crises by driving down the United States' carbon dioxide emissions to their lowest level since Lyndon Johnson was president. Put another way, it -- combined with another 20% reduction in pollution achieved by moves from market forces -- would eliminate an estimated one billion tons of carbon pollution per year by the end of 2030 -- almost enough to meet President Joe Biden's pledge to cut emissions 50% by 2030.
To slow climate change, we must curtail the root cause of carbon pollution to hold the average global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, above preindustrial levels, scientists say.
According to NASA, the earth already has warmed an average of 1.01 degrees Celsius.
As we noted last week, this is not just a pie-in-the-sky global concern.
In Chattanooga, this summer to date, we've departed upward from our established average mean temperatures by 2.5 to 2.9 degrees. And local weather data show that all of our hottest years but one, 2007, have been in the past decade. We wrote last week that one interactive climate analysis shows Chattanooga in 30 years will likely see 18 more days a summer with dangerous heat. Currently we see eight of those days a year.
Still, one reader emailed: "I have read your piece. I am wondering how this benefits anyone in Chattanooga. I did not see that you address how Chattanoogans would benefit. Am I wrong?"
Short answer: Yes, you're wrong. Longer answer: Where to start in explaining how much so.
› Would Chattanoogans not benefit from not sweating through more than twice as many days with heat indexes above 100?
› Would Chattanoogans not benefit from saving the higher energy costs needed to cool homes and businesses for 18 high-heat days vs. eight high-heat days?
› Would Chattanoogans -- especially the 18% of our population that is 65 or older -- not benefit from lower drug costs, guaranteed by this law's insistence of capping Medicare recipients' yearly prescription cost at $2,000?
› Would Chattanooga area diabetics on Medicare not benefit from paying just $35 a month for insulin? Insulin costs under $10 a vial to manufacture, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, but even in 2020 the foundation found that insulin costs ranged from $334 a month to $1,000 a month.
› Would Chattanoogans not like as much as a $7,500 boost in the form of a tax credit toward their next car purchase for buying an electric or plug-in hybrid car assembled in America?
An Associated Press story in our paper Sunday found a whopping 31 new 2022 and 2023 vehicle models qualify for the tax credit, based on data submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
By our tally, plenty of Chattanoogans benefit.
We can also tell you who should NOT benefit from the many windfalls of the Inflation Reduction Act:
Not one Tennessee or Georgia Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives or U.S. Senate. That's because not one of those so-called conservatives always claiming to look out for you voted for the Inflation Reduction Act -- nor other environmental legislation measures or the Affordable Insulin Now Act that unsuccessfully preceded the IRA in previous months. Their votes against these measures were votes for inflation, for rising drug costs and for climate catastrophe -- not votes for you.
Those Republicans never again, under any circumstance, deserve the benefit of your votes.