Martedì, 16 Maggio 2017 - 19:00 Comunicato 1189

The United States of Trump: “Health Profile” drafted in Trento

At the 12th edition of the Trento Economics Festival (TEF) scheduled on June 1st - 4th 2017 the main topic will be “the Unequal Health”, a theme inspired by the Michael Marmot best seller “the Health Gap – the challenge of an unequal world”. A wide panel of insiders – not only economists – coming to Trento from all over the world will discuss disparities in health among and within countries, focusing in particular way on the role of social determinants of health (income, environment, social system, education, lifestyle). During the four days debate in Trento, a proper space will be devoted also to the status of health in the United States of Donald J. Trump, whose priority seems to be the demolition of the so-called “Obamacare”.

“In Gabon per capita GDP is a third compared to the US one, but at the same the infant mortality rate in the African country is 5% live births while in the US the same rate is ten times lower since it amounts to 5  live births – explains Tito Boeri, scientific director of TEF none other than the chairman of the Italian National Institute for Social Security (INPS) -. Yet, there are deep disparities in life expectancy within the US as well: indeed, people living in rural areas (most of them gave their support to the election of Trump) may have a life expectancy lower up to 30 years compared to people living in big cities both in the East or the West Coast”.

In order to have a clear idea of what is going on in the “new deal” of the Trump’s United States, one of the most eminent guests at the Trento Economics Festival will be Jonathan Gruber, Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Director of the Health Care Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBR), President of the American Society of Health Economists, as well as main advisor and technical consultant to the Obama Administration for the Health Care Reform. His speech in Trento on June 3rd  will focus on “Obamacare: the past, the present and the future”.

Yet, since US polls in 2016 are still a surprise for the whole world, Thomas Ferguson, Professor at the University of Massachusetts in Boston and Director of Research at the Institute for New Economic Thinking, in his lecture at the TEF on June 3rd will investigate the unexpected political coalition that brought Trump at the White House with a Congress dominated by Republicans.

Finally, on June 4th a special address by Kiersten Strombotne, Health Economist at the American Institutes for Research (AIR) in Washington D.C., will pay attention to one of American most worrying concern: obesity. 

A Body Mass Index (BMI) higher than 30 – which means obesity – is one of biggest causes of death in the US and recent trends are going worse since obesity is growing faster among young people with huge costs for healthcare.

(us)


Immagini