The Hidden Death Toll of Austerity: Why We Need Miller’s Law
When politicians slash funding for welfare, healthcare, Medicaid, or Social Security, they often frame it as fiscal responsibility. But behind the sterile language of “budget tightening” lies a brutal truth: these cuts kill. Not metaphorically. Literally.
💀 Austerity Has a Body Count
Recent research has laid bare the devastating human cost of austerity policies:
- In the UK, austerity measures introduced after 2010 led to approximately 190,000 excess deaths between 2010 and 2019. These were not inevitable deaths—they were preventable, caused by reduced access to healthcare, housing, and social support.
- A separate study from University College London found that over 1 million people in the UK died prematurely between 2011 and 2019 due to health inequalities exacerbated by austerity. Of those, 148,000 deaths were directly attributed to austerity policies.
- Another analysis estimated that 335,000 excess deaths occurred in the UK due to austerity—twice as many as previously thought.
These are not just numbers. They represent real people—many of them poor, disabled, elderly, or chronically ill—whose lives were cut short because their governments chose to balance budgets on their backs.
🧾 The U.S. Is Not Immune
While much of the data comes from the UK, the United States is on a similar path. Cuts to Medicaid expansion, disability benefits, and food assistance programs have already been linked to increased mortality, especially in marginalized communities. Yet, these consequences are rarely acknowledged in public discourse.
Why? Because death by austerity is slow, dispersed, and politically convenient to ignore.
⚖️ Introducing Miller’s Law: Accountability for Austerity
It’s time to demand accountability. Just as environmental impact assessments are required before building a highway, Miller’s Law would require a “deaths assessment” before any legislation that reduces funding for essential social programs.
Under Miller’s Law, lawmakers would be obligated to:
- Commission independent studies estimating the potential mortality impact of proposed cuts.
- Publicly disclose these findings before a vote.
- Justify any decision to proceed despite projected loss of life.
This isn’t radical—it’s responsible governance. If a policy is likely to result in thousands of premature deaths, the public deserves to know. And politicians should be forced to own that decision.
🧠 The Moral Imperative
We cannot allow budgetary decisions to be made in a moral vacuum. Every dollar cut from Medicaid or Social Security is a policy choice with life-or-death consequences. Pretending otherwise is not just negligent—it’s cruel.
Miller’s Law would shine a light on the human cost of austerity and force our leaders to confront the consequences of their actions. Because in a just society, no one should die for being poor.
No comments:
Post a Comment