Yesterday, the Lancet Commission on Public Policy and Health in the Trump Era published the report of its four-year investigations. I was a member of the Commission, so have a special interest in this report.
The Executive Summary
Convened shortly after President Trump’s inauguration in 2017, the Lancet Commission on public policy and health in the Trump era, offers the first comprehensive assessment of the detrimental legislation and executive actions during Trump’s presidency with devastating effects on every aspect of health in the USA.
The Lancet Commission traces the decades of policy failures that preceded and fueled Trump’s ascent and left the USA lagging behind other high-income nations on life expectancy. The report warns that a return to pre-Trump era policies is not enough to protect health. Instead, sweeping reforms are needed to redress long-standing racism, weakened social and health safety nets that have deepened inequality, and calls on the important role of health professionals in advocating for health care reform in the USA.
The bottom line (as stated by Dr. Kevin Grumbach in the announcement video): “Trump committed medical malpractice.”
The Commission’s process
Commission members were appointed in 2017, met in Atlanta soon after, held a conference at Boston University in 2018, and met again early in 2019. I drafted the section on food and nutrition, no surprise, and also worked on the box on what happened in Puerto Rico, in which I have a particular interest (I taught a class there in 2003 with the anthropologist, Sidney Mintz, who wrote Sweetness and Power). Other members drafted other parts. The co-chairs, Steffie Woolhandler and David Himmelstein, pulled it all together and established its direction and voice. Food politics is a small part of this report (see section 6), but I was happy to get it included. It gave me a chance to complain, once again, about the forced move of the USDA’s Economic Research Service to Kansas City, something I consider to be a national tragedy, and to talk about how the Trump Administration attempted to destroy SNAP and undermine school meal standards.
The report, associated documents, and announcement video are on this Lancet website
- The report: Public policy and health in the Trump era, by the Commission
- US health and health care are a mess: now what?, a Comment by David Blumenthal and Margaret Hamburg
- Health in the USA: under examination and under repair, a Lancet editorial
- Infographics that accompany the report
- An audio interview with Mary Bassett, a member of the Commission
It got a lot of press—news accounts and opinion pieces
- New York Daily News: One way forward after Trump’s COVID debacle: Attack racial disparities in health care head-on
- New York Times: On Politics
- Los Angeles Times (in Spanish): Estudio responsabiliza a políticas de Trump de alta mortalidad por COVID
- Al Jazeera: Trump’s environment policies killed thousands, scientists say
- The Hill: Lancet report faults Trump for ‘avoidable’ coronavirus deaths
- Mother Jones: A New Study Says Trump’s Health Care Policies Killed Hundreds of Thousands of Americans
- Truthout: New Lancet Report: 40 Percent of US COVID Deaths Could Have Been Avoided
- Democracy Now: U.S. COVID Death Toll Tops 471,000; Half of All Deaths Occurred Since Nov. 1
- MSN: Lancet Study Finds 40 Percent of U.S. Covid-19 Deaths Could Have Been Avoided (Slate pick-up)
- The Florida Times-Union: Roughly 40% of the USA’s coronavirus deaths could have been prevented, new study says (USA Today pick-up)
- WKMG: 40% of COVID-19 deaths were preventable, study says
- O Globo (in Portuguese): Falhas de Trump aumentaram mortes pela Covid-19 nos EUA e influenciaram Bolsonaro, diz Lancet
- El Colombiano (in Spanish): Estudio responsabiliza a políticas de Trump de muertes por covid-19
- MRT: Trump’s Environmental Policies Killed Thousands of People, Scientists Say (Bloomberg pick-up)
- Urdu Point: Lancet Commission Blasts Trump’s COVID-19 Response For Resulting In Scores Of Extra Deaths
- 7th Space: The Lancet: New report details devastating impact of the Trump administration’s health-harming policies, calls for sweeping reforms
- Sputnik News: Lancet Study Slams ‘Devastating’ Trump-Era COVID-19 Response, Cites 40 Years Of US Neoliberal Policy
- Republic World: Scientists Claim That Trump’s Environmental Policies Killed Thousands Of People
- The Boston Globe: Trump’s environmental and occupational policies are the other public health disasters
- Salon: Our failing healthcare system costs us countless lives. It’s time to adopt Medicare for All
- Washington Post: Coronavirus live updates: CDC pushes for double-masking
- CNN: Trump’s policies worsened decades of US health neglect, Lancet report says
- The Guardian: US could have averted 40% of Covid deaths, says panel examining Trump’s policies
- Slate: Lancet study finds 40 percent of US Covid-19 deaths were avoidable.
- The Daily Beast: Forty Percent of America’s Coronavirus Deaths Were Avoidable: Lancet Study
- Bloomberg: Trump’s Environmental Policies Killed Thousands of People, Scientists Say
- USA Today: Lancet Commission: Donald Trump presidency worsened US health care
- USA Today: Trump impeachment trial, coronavirus pandemic: things to know Thursday
- Newsweek: 40 Percent of US COVID Deaths Could Have Been Averted If It Weren’t for Trump: Report
- Yahoo News: Top medical journal blames Trump’s policies for tens of thousands of deaths
- Forbes: Trump’s Policies Resulted In The Unnecessary Deaths Of Hundreds Of Thousands Of Americans: Lancet Report
- Forbes: Report: Trump Associated With 461,000 Deaths In 2018, Others Deserve Blame Too
- Fast Company: Harvard researchers have calculated how many unnecessary deaths the Trump administration left behind
- Quartz: Poor life expectancy in the US causes over 400,000 excess deaths
- Common Dreams: Medicare for All the ‘Only Way Forward,’ Concludes Lancet Panel in Study Detailing Death and Misery Inflicted by Trump
- Cheddar: Wake Up with Cheddar (2/11/21)
- Medical Xpress: Lancet report details devastating impact of the Trump administration’s health-harming policies, calls for reforms
- The Independent: Trump impeachment trial live: Latest updates as unseen videos shown
- Explica: Study blames Trump policies for high mortality from COVID
- Get News Post: The US is ailing: Lancet Commission impacts Donald Trump’s ‘bumbling and lacking’ COVID-19 reaction, mourns broadening imbalances
- Fintech Zoom: Donald Trump News – Donald Trump presidency worsened US health care
- La Prensa Latina: Study blames Trump policies for high US Covid-19 mortality rate
- KSU Sentinel: Trump Administration Increased Number Of Covid-19-Related Deaths In United States, Lancet Magazine Report Says
- CBS21: Report: Trump policies caused thousands of unnecessary deaths in the US (CNN Pickup)
- PressTV: Trump’s ‘insufficient’ COVID-19 response caused thousands of unnecessary deaths: report
- Eureka Alert: The Lancet: New report details devastating impact of the Trump administration’s health-harming policies, calls for sweeping reforms