Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) Climate Provisions are a Game Changer for U.S. Heart and Lung Health, Study Shows
Burlington, MA – Climate change and environmental pollution have well-documented health effects. In August 2022, the the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was signed into law, making $369 billion available for climate and clean energy initiatives, including electric vehicle tax credits, large-scale investments in domestic manufacturing of clean technologies and grants to support projects to address environmental justice.
A recent analysis lead by Sarju B. Ganatra, MD, Medical Director of Sustainability and Vice Chair, Department of Medicine (Research), at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center (LHMC) examined the long-term impact of the IRA’s environmental provisions on population health outcomes in the United States. Using a simulation algorithm to model how achieving various climate goals would affect Americans’ cardiovascular and respiratory health by 2050, Ganatra and colleagues demonstrated that IRA’s funding of climate policies could potentially lead to more than 3.3 million avoided lost workdays; nearly a million avoided asthma attacks; 41,565 avoided non-fatal heart attacks; 18,993 avoided hospital admissions; and 1,493,010 , with racial and ethnic minorities experiencing the largest relative impacts. The team’s work is published in the American Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
“The IRA is the most significant federal climate and clean energy legislation in US history with provisions aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Ganatra. "Prior studies have indicated a substantial climate impact in vulnerable populations, including low-income individuals, elderly people, and people with chronic conditions. Our findings suggest that meeting the greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals as described in the IRA, would result in a large benefit in minority communities and would help drive equitable health outcomes in marginalized communities."
The IRA’s climate and energy provisions are in line with achieving a greenhouse gas emissions target proposed by the United States in 2015 as part of the Paris Agreement with the overarching goal of restricting the total global rise in temperature to less than 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels. That goal would require the United States to slash emissions to half of what they were in 2005 by 2030. Ganatra and colleagues estimated the projected reductions in six adverse health outcomes with both full and partial (50 percent) achievement of that goal.
The team found that, by the year 2050, full implementation of the proposed climate-related policy interventions and investments would lead to more than 3.3 million avoided lost workdays; nearly a million avoided asthma attacks; 41,565 avoided non-fatal heart attacks; 18,993 avoided hospital admissions; and 1,493,010 avoided respiratory symptoms and bronchitis. Partial implementation of climate change policies resulted in 1,325,670 avoided lost workdays; 393,476 avoided asthma attacks; 16,528 avoided non-fatal heart attacks; 7,711 avoided hospital admissions; and 595,555 avoided cases of respiratory symptoms and bronchitis
A total of 32,659 deaths would be avoided by the year 2050 with full implementation, compared to 13,293 deaths with 50 percent compliance. Minority racial and ethnic groups had greater changes in avoided deaths.
Further analysis revealed that the vast majority of deaths were avoided via building component electrification--replacing equipment that uses natural gas, propane, or other fossil fuels with electric alternatives. Ganatra and colleagues further estimated that full implementation of climate change policies would save the US economy $1888 billion in avoided deaths and climate change-related costs, while 50 percent implementation would save $541 billion.
“Our analysis suggests that the cost savings related to health benefits by 2050 would more than obviate the investment in the IRA’s climate and environmental provisions,” Ganatra said. “Prior experience in legally mandated pollution control programs has demonstrated that these are highly cost effective; a single dollar invested in pollution control in 1970 is estimated to have yielded a benefit of $30, a return of $1.5 trillion against an investment of $65 billion. Thus, the the IRA is likely to be extremely cost effective in the long run and a highly effective solution to the issue of climate inequity for our most vulnerable populations.”
Co-authors included Sourbha Dani, Ajay Sharma and Sumanth Khadke of Lahey Hospital & Medical Center; Ashish Kumar of Cleveland Clinic Akron General; Martha Gulati of Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center, Cedars Sinai Medical Center Smidt Heart Institute; Sanjay Rajagopalan of Harrington Heart and Vascular Institute, University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University; and Sadeer G. Al-Kindi of Houston Methodist Hospital.
The authors declare they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
About Lahey Hospital & Medical Center
Lahey Hospital & Medical Center (LHMC) is a world-renowned tertiary academic medical center known for its innovative technology, pioneering medical treatments and leading-edge research. As a physician-led hospital, LHMC offers a legacy of care and education committed to putting the patient at the center through a multidisciplinary, collaborative and team-based approach. LHMC’s research efforts and clinical trials cross numerous medical disciplines, providing patients with access to the latest options in treatment and care.
LHMC is a part of Beth Israel Lahey Health, a health care system that brings together academic medical centers and teaching hospitals, community and specialty hospitals, more than 4,700 physicians and 39,000 employees in a shared mission to expand access to great care and advance the science and practice of medicine through groundbreaking research and education.
