President Obama’s new health care reforms will help millions more people in the U.S. get access to modern medical care and preventive health services, just like every other country in the developed world. All things being equal, that would lead to a rapid surge in greenhouse gas emissions attributed to the health care industry, which is already notorious for its resource-gobbling ways. However, things never are actually equal.
In terms of greenhouse gas emissions and waste reduction the health care industry has already been laying the groundwork for dealing with a potentially huge surge in demand for its services. That will not only come from Presidents Obama’s new health care reforms. It will also come from a rise in the population of older (and very older) people in the U.S., and from new energy demands by emerging high tech health care equipment.