[hedora]

I watched the victory speech. He promised three things (1) only four years of him in the White House, (2) appointing RFK to eliminate vaccines and gut the health care industry (3) end current wars, so basically give his boss military control of Eastern Europe.

I don’t believe (1). The other two would mean our kids’ life expectancies just halved.

[hyeonwho4]

- Eliminating vaccines is a terrible idea, but public school vaccine requirements are state law in my state. RFK won't be touching them.

- Gutting the health care industry? That's not necessarily a bad thing. Wasteful health care administration (passing the buck) was something like 30% of health care costs pre-ACA, and health care is now 17.3% of GDP. Shedding 1/3 of health care costs would bring our health care expenses to the same ratio of GDP as the UK. Of course it would also cause an unemployment crisis...

[matwood]

Pre-ACA it was hard to near impossible to get healthcare with an existing condition. Additionally, most healthcare costs are later in life. My fear is shedding costs is going to equate to only covering people who are young and healthy. But hey, it'll be cheaper.

[hedora]

The plan is to withhold federal funding for schools that require vaccines.

One example of gutting the industry (announced today): ban fluoridated water.

[hyeonwho4]

I'm still confused. Schools are required to require vaccines by state law.

Banning fluoridated water is a weird idea. I will have to look into the costs and benefits.

[hyeonwho4]

Yikes!

> Nineteen of those studies were considered to be high quality; of these, 18 reported an inverse association between estimated fluoride exposure and IQ in children. The 18 studies, which include 3 prospective cohort studies and 15 cross-sectional studies, were conducted in 5 different countries. Forty-six of the 53 low-quality studies in children also found evidence of an inverse association between estimated fluoride exposure and IQ in children.

> https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/publications/monographs/mgraph08

They're estimating a 3 to 5 point IQ drop due to fluorinated water in childhood. On that basis I would have to support switching to free mouthwash.

[xanderlewis]

The very fact he feels the need to promise (1) says it all.