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Anna Brandes: Health insurance companies shouldn’t invest in an industry that makes us sick

Investments in fossil fuel companies go against what health insurance is supposed to be for.

(Damian Dovarganes | AP file photo) In this Feb. 7, 2020, photo, people demonstrate during a Jane Fonda's Fire Drill Fridays rally, calling for action to address climate change at Los Angeles City Hall.

Health insurance companies are in the business of keeping people healthy. Last week, when I was watching TV, a health insurance commercial came on.

A family was preparing a breakfast of fresh blueberry pancakes, jovially kicking around a soccer ball in a shaded park on a cool summer evening. This advertisement would make anybody want to be healthy. And that’s how health insurance companies save money. If you’re healthy, health insurance companies ultimately pay less. It means fewer visits to urgent cares and to the emergency department, fewer expensive procedures and more time to spend making those delicious blueberry pancakes.

So why do health insurance companies make investments that put their patients’ health at risk? The country’s top 10 health insurers, ranked by U.S. market share, invested nearly $24 billion dollars in fossil fuels.

Not only do fossil fuel investments exacerbate climate change, the pollution caused by the burning of these toxins directly harms the health of patients. The burdens of such health harms unfairly fall the hardest on low-income communities, many of which are Black, Indigenous and Latino, and particularly on future generations.

As a medical student in Utah, this issue presents a glaring conflict of interest. While health insurance companies will eventually pay me to keep patients healthy, they are simultaneously reinvesting patient’s premiums in fossil fuel companies which harm their health.

In Utah this issue is highlighted by the poor air quality that is largely driven by continued reliance on and investment in fossil fuels, specifically natural gas, crude oil and coal. Companies with operations in Utah such as ConocoPhillips and Caerus Uinta are known polluters at national and international levels and new developments like the inland port will expand their reach.

Air pollution is known to cause adverse health outcomes including asthma, cardiovascular events, lung disease and premature mortality. Although we are not in charge of the money, we should have a say in how it is being invested if those investments affect our ability to care for patients.

As a future medical professional, I will not be silent when our patients are under threat. Medical students across the country are mobilizing to urge the health care community to take the climate crisis seriously. From peers to mentors and administrators, it is imperative that everyone in our circles are involved and that real progress is made.

At my institution, we are implementing the Planetary Health Report Card and pushing curriculum changes that address planetary health. For system-wide progress to be made, however, we need the rest of the medical community to take the health implications of climate change as seriously as we do. This includes the health insurers who control so much of the money in the U.S. health care system.

A great first step for these companies would be divesting from fossil fuels including all investments in coal, oil, and gas. This money could then be invested in proven climate solutions such as renewables. This strategy, known as Divest Invest, is gaining speed in the world of global finance and would provide a clear path forward to a healthier, more just future for our planet and patients. Over 1,300 financial institutions have already committed to divest over fourteen trillion dollars from fossil fuels and have laid out a strategy for American health insurers to do the same.

Anna Brandes

Anna Brandes is a third-year medical student at the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City. She is originally from Honolulu, Hawaii, but has called Salt Lake home for the past eight years. She is invested in planetary health and is planning on going into family medicine.