In Today’s Washington Post is a lengthy article on the fall of life expectancy in Ashtabula County in Ohio (A place I visited earlier this year). At its heart, this story is not about corruption but political neglect in middle America. Republican governors in states like Ohio since the 1980s have decided that it is not worth putting money into improving state healthcare systems. As a result, life expectancy has plummeted in places like Ashtabula, with Ohioans having life expectancy akin to those in nations like Slovakia and Ecuador. This is mainly due to high rates of smoking-related diseases such as Lung Cancer and alcoholism. This sad state of affairs has no signs of abating as long as Republicans continue to hold on to the levers of power in states like Ohio.       

(Disclaimer: the article I reference in this piece is behind a paywall.)