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Saturday, July 22nd, 2023

A red state boosted public health funding by 1,500 percent. This is how they did it.

Author:     MEGAN MESSERLY
Source:     Politico
Publication Date:     07/13/2023 | 04:30 AM EDT
 Link: A red state boosted public health funding by 1,500 percent. This is how they did it.
Stephan:  

I have been telling you for years that Republican governance always produces inferior social outcome data which always means that ordinary people are more miserable, sicker, and that children particularly suffer. Here is a rare counter example that shows these Republican policies are not the way it has to be in Red states, and that when enough Republicans do the same things Democrats routinely do, it produces the same benefits. So bravo Indiana Republican Governor Eric Holcomb.

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb spent more time talking specifically about public health in his State of the State address this year than any other governor. Credit: Darron Cummings / AP

Covid left many Republicans leery of public health. Not Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb.

This year, Holcomb pushed a 1,500-percent increase in state dollars to local health departments through the GOP-controlled legislature, a significant victory in a state that consistently ranks among the bottom for public health outcomes.

It also marks a notable deviation from the approach the Republican Party — from state lawmakers to presidential candidates — has taken to public health post-pandemic as it leans into the sizable wing of the party skeptical of government and public health ahead of the 2024 election.

Pandemic backlash and anti-vaccine sentiment have coalesced into a growing movement hostile to government involvement in public health, and its enmity stretches beyond Covid vaccines and masks. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has touted his “medical freedom” bona fides as he campaigns for the nation’s top office. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) earlier this year 

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