Plenty of data exists around the health impact of racial anxiety-driven public policies on people of color. Jonathan Metzl, MD, PhD, author of Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America’s Heartland, argues that the same racial anxieties hurt White people too. (In his research Metzl defines “White” not as biological, but as the politics of “Whiteness” that are associated with anti-immigrant, anti-government, pro-gun sentiments.)
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Metzl examined the impact of racial anxiety-fueled policies such as: the repeal of gun control laws in Missouri, dampened enrollments in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in Tennessee, and education and social services cuts in Kansas. His research shows that, as a result of these decisions, gun suicides and school dropouts among White people in those states rose, and their life expectancies fell.
Broad public support for the ACA in Tennessee declined, for example, after the emergence of a narrative claiming “this is going to put the government in your private life, it’s going to take away privileges for you, it’s a handout to minorities.” Metzl, who works in Tennessee at Vanderbilt University, says he met many people who intentionally declined ACA coverage, even when they were ill, because of that narrative.
Are you attending Learn Serve Lead this year? Hear more on this subject from Metzl next month at Learn Serve Lead 2022: The AAMC Annual Meeting. #aamc22
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Pamela Sharif
Marketing Director
Association of American Medical Colleges
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