Climate Change and Human Health Impacts in the United States: An Update on the Results of the U.S. National Assessment

Ebi, Kristie L.; Mills, David M.; Smith, Joel B.; Grambsch, Anne

The second development is that Medicare coverage is now being offered for prescription medications. Given Medicare's focus on the elderly, this change may improve the health status of the elderly and increase the financial resources available to this segment of the population, improving their adaptive capacity. To the extent that public health programs and preventive medicine receive additional funding, there is the potential that the general health status of the U.S. population could improve, which would, in general, reduce vulnerability to climate change.