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Climate change is causing people in Washington to spend billions of dollars in healthcare costs. That鈥檚 according to a that looked at how hospital visits and early deaths during a recent wildfire season.
In the Northwest, climate change is predicted to bring severe problems such as longer wildfire seasons. With that will come more smoke. Breathing small smoke particles is bad for people with respiratory problems and heart conditions.
The from the Natural Resources Defense Council advocacy group and the University of California San Francisco looked at what that meant for hospital visits and medical bills during several climate 鈥渃ase studies鈥� in 2012.
The study, published in the journal , looked at Washington鈥檚 2012 wildfire season. Around the country, researchers studied healthcare costs resulting from Hurricane Sandy in New York and New Jersey, West Nile Virus in Texas and extreme heat in Wisconsin.
Researchers found that in Washington, 245 people died early and almost 2,000 visited an emergency room. There were 371 people admitted to the hospital stemming from breathing in wildfire smoke or other issues related to fires.
Vijaye Limaye, the study鈥檚 lead author and a doctor working with NRDC鈥檚 Science Center, said those numbers include people 鈥渄irectly harmed by the fire鈥� but mostly those affected by wildfire smoke.
鈥淎 large portion of deaths (were) attributed to deadly air pollution. Air pollution that flows often far downstream from the fires themselves and can expose millions of people to polluted air,鈥� Limaye said.
He said younger and older people are especially vulnerable to health problems caused by climate change. Limaye said more than two-thirds of the healthcare costs from these climate 鈥渃ase studies鈥� were covered by Medicare and Medicaid.
The study estimates Washington鈥檚 hospital visits and deaths cost more than $2 billion in 2012 (in 2018 dollars). With all of the 10 study areas included, that number rose to $10 billion nationally.
鈥淭hese are the types of costs that folks are paying for right now. This work signals tens to hundreds of billions of dollars in additional health-related costs in the future,鈥� Limaye said.
Jeremy Hess, an emergency room physician and professor at the University of Washington, wasn鈥檛 involved in the study. He said these numbers are 鈥渦nquestionably an underestimate.鈥�
鈥淲e need to invest more in understanding these risks, and the impacts on the healthcare system,鈥� Hess said. 鈥淎nd in particular, on preparing the nation鈥檚 emergency healthcare infrastructure.鈥�
Courtney Flatt covers environmental and natural resource issues for Northwest Public Broadcasting. She is based in Washington鈥檚 Tri-Cities. On Twitter:
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