For Better Public Health, Replace "Pro-Morbidity" Politicians

On Friday, reported that Northampton County's already-terrible morbidity ranking actually got worse in the past year as a result of the Republican majority's refusal to act.

Last year, the county ranked 59th out of Pennsylvania's 67 counties on morbidity; this year it ranked 60th. It ranked 27th out of the 67 counties in overall health.

Despite living longer lives, Northampton County residents spent more days feeling mentally and physically ill, and had a higher number of low birth weight babies than the rest of the state and the nation.

This reinforces what we learned from the : the LV's health infrastructure does a good job at making sick people healthy, but it fails at keeping healthy people healthy.

One of the main reasons the Valley does such a bad job at keeping healthy people healthy is that two-thirds of the region's residents do not have access to public health services.

And the reason they do not have access to public health services is .

 The Republican majority on Northampton County Council - with an assist from nominal Democrat Lamont McClure - have decided that they do not want to know anything about the benefits of public health services.

Earlier this year the pro-morbidity faction on Council voted to kneecap the Lehigh Valley Board of Health by barring it from spending private foundation money it already has to continue studying a Bi-County Health Department.

The reasons they have offered for this are utterly unserious, as demonstrated by the fact that several of the most popular excuses are mutually exclusive.

Ron Angle in particular talks out both sides of his mouth, out the one side serving up ideological twaddle about "another level of government," out the other complaining that it will take too long to bring the services on-line in his district.

It's like the Woody Allen joke about the restaurant with terrible food, and such small portions.

It is clear that the Republican majority on Council (plus Lamont McClure) are not unconvinced, but unwilling to be convinced.  Their objection is political, not substantial, and they do not have a plan to deal with this problem.

 The solution to the County's morbidity problem is simple: 

 Reducing morbidity requires increasing access to preventive health care. 

 Increasing access to preventive health care requires public health infrastructure. 

 Creating public health infrastructure requires County politicians to vote for a Bi-County Health Department.

 Creating a Bi-County Health Department requires voters to replace pro-morbidity politicians with anti-morbidity politicians on Northampton County Council.

So far we know that Ron Angle and Lamont McClure are both implacably opposed to the Health Department. Replacing Ron Angle with Scott Parsons will secure an additional vote for the Health Department, thus reducing morbidity.

Replacing nominal Democrat Lamont McClure with Republican Matt Connolly is unlikely to reduce morbidity, so voters who want better public health will have better luck lobbying Mr. McClure to reverse his strong pro-morbidity views. A primary would have been more persuasive to Mr. McClure, but unfortunately it is too late for that.

Incumbent Republican Michael Dowd has been an ally on the Bi-County Health Department, but he has a pro-morbidity Republican challenger in Bill Whitman. If Mr. Dowd should prevail in the primary, his Democratic challenger Robert Werner is also anti-morbidity, so this contest is unlikely to determine the Department's fate. 

On the Lehigh County side, all Republican candidates are pro-morbidity. Voters can do their part by pressing the candidates for their views on the morbidity problem, and asking what exactly they think should be done if they oppose the Health Department.