Dr. Carole Myers
Welcome to HealthConnections, the show about people, health, and policy. I'm Dr. Carole Myers. Tennessee is 44th in America's health rankings and consistently ranks in the bottom 10 in states in voter participation. Coincidence? Today's guest on Health Connections, Marilyn Finley, asserts it's not a coincidence. Marilyn currently serves on the board of directors of the League of Women Voters of Tennessee. Marilyn, welcome to HealthConnections.
Marilyn Finley
Thank you, Carole.
What are the connections between voting and health?
Well, I want to share with you an organization called the Institute for Responsive Government. They have findings that show that states with more inclusive voting policies and greater levels of civic participation, like voting, are healthier.
Let's dig down. How does voting impact health?
It does in many ways. So, for instance, there's could be significant input on spending and programs. So, communities that face barriers like structural inequities in transportation, you can imagine that could be true for someone trying to get to vote as well as get to the doctor. They could have language access problems again, hard to vote if you can't use the forms, broadband access, and accessible spaces-all of these really impact both abilities, people to vote and people to see to their health. So, there's certainly a correlation between the two.
I've been seeing more and more commentary about social inclusion or social connection, social engagement. Is that a factor here in voting and in health?
Oh, I think so. When people have a sense of community and involvement, they're more likely to feel engaged, and frankly, more likely to take care of their health because they're part of an overall community.
As we think about this and segue to so what, what can our listeners do when we try to make the connection between voting and health? What's your advice?
In terms of what action they can take aside from voting?
Well, maybe we should start there.
Well, voting is an important way that we build social inclusion and belonging in our communities. If you stop to think about it, it's really the largest public event we have-it's in every state, it's in every community. Everybody has the opportunity, provided they're eligible, to participate in voting, and we know the higher rates of community participation and social contact, getting around to that community thing again, are associated. So basically, it's all connected.
Any parting words, Marilyn?
Well, I would just ask people to to think about how voting affects them locally. They vote for school board members who could decide what kind of healthcare professional is is at their school. That's very important. They do things about vaccinations. Our commissioners look at zoning, which could have effect on where a healthcare facility could be located. Certainly, things like pollution and things that directly affect your health. So, there's just lots of ballots that your various levels of representatives are going to affect your health because they actually do work on legislation.
Yes, I concur with you. I commonly say that the majority of healthcare is affected at the local level, not at the national level. Although there's very significant national input.
Agreed.
This is Dr. Carole Myers, joined today by Marilyn Finley, a member of the board of directors of the League for Women Voters of Tennessee. Thank you for listening to HealthConnections. All past episodes are available at WUOT.org for on-demand listening. And listeners, your comments and suggestions are always welcome.
