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How much did they save the health service compared to coal though? Air pollution kills.

• dragonwriter 8y ago
  > How much did they save the health service compared to coal though? Air pollution kills. Killing people can be a net savings for health services. The dead consume no services.
  • rurp 8y ago
    But unhealthy and dying people DO consume a lot of health services. Not to mention the fact that unhealthy levels of pollution can lower the quality of life for a great many citizens, something most people think that governments should care about.
    • dragonwriter 8y ago
      > But unhealthy and dying people DO consume a lot of health services. Yeah, sure, and I'm not saying something that kills people early always saves health system money. Just that it can (a lot of analysis of cigarette smoking have showed that reducing smoking in many countries has a net public cost, considering the aggregate of health and public pension payments, and I think in some cases that was true of health costs alone. > Not to mention the fact that unhealthy levels of pollution can lower the quality of life for a great many citizens, something most people think that governments should care about. Sure, quality of life is another important concern aside from health costs. I'm definitely not saying deadly pollution is a net good, even if it might save public health costs.