STAT September 30, 2022
The climate crisis — the greatest threat to human health in history — is often framed “in ways that pay little attention to its health dimensions,” as the authors of The Lancet’s annual “Countdown: Tracking Progress on Health and Climate Change” report were forced to remind us.
This tragic reality was on display in Health Affairs, JAMA, Kaiser Health News, and The Lancet itself, among others, when they limited their reporting on the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act to its enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies and drug cost reforms. They failed to highlight for the health care industry that the IRA’s tax credit provisions for renewable energy, formally called energy security, are for the first time refundable for tax-exempt entities....