Georgia Institute of Technology

To borrow an observation, health care is complex. Central to our health outcomes is access to care. One type of access – financial access – is the type that the Affordable Care Act expanded for millions of Americans. That is what’s primarily at stake in the Senate’s new bill, says Kimberley Isett, an associate professor in the School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech. 

Access to care is comprised of many things: Are there facilities to get care and providers to give it? Are there excessively long waits or distances to travel to receive care? And is there an available payer for care? Financial access is not sufficient to guarantee physical access to care, but it is necessary. There are several ways the current Senate Bill has an impact on access:

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President Trump is withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate change agreement, which calls on countries to limit global warming by reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. Marilyn Brown, the Brook Byers Professor of Sustainable Systems in the School of Public Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology, explains the ramifications of Trump’s decision for the U.S. and the world and discusses the rise of the Carbon Dividend Plan.

In 2016, the U.S. signed the Paris Accord, pledging to reduce its national greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. Analysts have shown this goal is achievable at no net cost to the U.S. economy.

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Tax programs can be used to raise revenue for the government, redistribute income or encourage economic growth. The plan just released by the president’s economic team is designed to promote growth, growth and growth.  They project the new plan will enable the economy to reach a growth rate of at least 3 percent up from our current sluggish rate of about 1.5 percent. Christine Ries, an economics professor at Georgia Tech, said the plan boosts income, innovation and job creation by changing incentives and reducing tax burdens on pro-growth activities. She said two questions remain: Will it work? And will Congress pass it?

Will it work?

Absolutely. It always has in the past. 

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British researchers recently discovered that Tropic Seamount, an extinct seafloor volcano near the Canary Islands, contains massive concentrations of tellurium, an extremely scarce element which is a key component of high efficiency solar panels. Georgia Tech Assistant Professor Jennifer Glass, an expert on biogeochemistry, explains the significance of this discovery and why no energy is truly green. 

The researchers estimated that the Tropic Seamount contains one-twelfth of the world's tellurium supply. This inevitably raises the question of whether mining companies should extract metals from the deep sea to meet the growing demand for tellurium for the “green” energy economy.

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Marc Weissburg is a professor in the School of Biological Sciences and an organizer the March for Science Atlanta, set for Saturday, April 22, in Candler Park.

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