`p69 "the last 20 years of scientific research have identified the many ways lead poisons people, both upon exposure and much later. lead was, and continues to be, a race poison--if by race, one means the broad swath of humanity and not a few privileged groups. lead exposure has intergenerational effects. as discussed in chap 2, women and men who were lead poisoned as children but who were not exposed as adults have increased rates of miscarriages and abortions and have children who are more likely to exhibit developmental delays. similarly, women who were exposed to undue lead levels in their drinking water before and during pregnancy had higher rates of spontaneous abortion and infertility. as shown in appendix a, the use of lead water pipes around 1900 increased stillbirth and infant mortality rates in england and mass by between 8 and 25%"
p83 during the 1880's, there was an epidemic of water-related lead poisoning in huddersfield eng. and for many years the individuals who ran the town's water company struggled with how to eliminate lead from the public water supply. ripping up the town's lead service pipes and replacing them w.pipes made of some other material was expensive and most homeowners appear to have sought cheaper modes of protection. other methods of protection included the use of paper and charcoal filters, which were effective removing lead from tap water and were much cheaper than replacing the pipe. the town of huddersfield also began treating the water supply w/marble chips, reducing the water's power to dissolve lead."
p. "when we realize that half a century before the christian era vitruvius condemned lead servi ce pipes and 130 yrs after that time galen did the same thing, swann (in 1889) wrote. it is a puzzle to my mind how it is that the use of such a poisonous means of conveying water should ever become general"
ma in 1905 p. 139-40 ...cities that used non lead pipes in areas w.soft and corrosive supplies often found that the pipes burst or otherwise failed within 10 yrs. replacing service pipes was expensive; the cost of replacing a given pipe was between 5 and 10,000 in 2005 dollars.
1917 tin lined in nyc for some
1880's charcoal filters
water standing in pipes overnight found in 1 study to have 3x the lead as moving water
50 Health Issues That Count as a Pre-existing Condition
May 04, 2017
The Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which narrowly passed a vote in the House today, rolls back protections for people with pre-existing conditions, which could increase health care costs for an estimated 130 million Americans.
The American Health Care Act stipulates that states can allow insurers to charge people with pre-existing conditions more for health insurance (which is banned under the ACA) if the states meet certain conditions, such as setting up high-risk insurance pools. Insurers still cannot deny people coverage outright, as was a common practice before the ACA's passage, but they can hike up premiums to an unaffordable amount, effectively pricing people out of the market.
In fact, premiums could reach as high as $25,700 per year for people in high-risk pools, according to a report from AARP. People who receive insurance through their employer would not be affected, unless they lost their job or moved to the individual insurance market for some other reason.
Photo illustration by Sarina for MONEY; Getty Images (5)
But what counts as a pre-existing condition? While it depends on the insurer—they have the right to choose what counts as "pre-existing"—these ailments and conditions were universally used to deny people coverage, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit focusing on health care research.
- AIDS/HIV
- Alcohol or drug abuse with recent treatment
- Alzheimer’s/dementia
- Anorexia
- Arthritis
- Bulimia
- Cancer
- Cerebral palsy
- Congestive heart failure
- Coronary artery/heart disease, bypass surgery
- Crohn’s disease
- Diabetes
- Epilepsy
- Hemophilia
- Hepatitis
- Kidney disease, renal failure
- Lupus
- Mental disorders (including Anxiety, Bipolar Disorder, Depression, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Schizophrenia)
- Multiple sclerosis
- Muscular dystrophy
- Obesity
- Organ transplant
- Paraplegia
- Paralysis
- Parkinson’s disease
- Pending surgery or hospitalization
- Pneumocystic pneumonia
- Pregnancy or expectant parent (includes men)
- Sleep apnea
- Stroke
- Transsexualism
But Cynthia Cox, Kaiser's associate director, notes that the above list is a conservative sampling of all of the issues and maladies that insurers could count as pre-existing conditions. " There are plenty of other conditions, even acne or high blood pressure, that could have gotten people denied from some insurers but accepted and charged a higher premium by other insurers" says Cox.
Here are some examples of those other conditions that experts have noted could hike premiums:
- Acid Reflux
- Acne
- Asthma
- C-Section
- Celiac Disease
- Heart burn
- High cholesterol
- Hysterectomy
- Kidney Stones
- Knee surgery
- Lyme Disease
- Migraines
- Narcolepsy
- Pacemaker
- Postpartum depression
- Seasonal Affective Disorder
- Seizures
- "Sexual deviation or disorder"
- Ulcers
The left-leaning Center for American Progress notes that high blood pressure, behavioral health disorders, high cholesterol, asthma and chronic lung disease, and osteoarthritis and other joint disorders are the most common types of pre-existing conditions.
Just how expensive are pre-existing conditions? A recent report from the Center for American Progress found that insurers could charge people with metastatic cancer as much as $142,650 more for their coverage, a 3,500% increase.
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