Taking measure of constituent health - Politico
Monday, 15 February 2010 23:00
A new Gallup study out Tuesday ranks the relative health and happiness of constituents in each congressional district — which is good news for California Rep. Anna Eshoo but not so much for New York Rep. Jose Serrano.
Eshoo’s San Francisco Peninsula district — ranked No. 1 for overall health and happiness — takes in some of California’s toniest and prettiest enclaves. Think Palo Alto, Atherton and Half Moon Bay.
Serrano’s district — ranked dead last in overall health and happiness — covers the South Bronx.
The silver lining for Serrano’s district’s rating? While it’s the saddest district in the nation, it’s only the second angriest. The study’s angriest-district award goes to Rep. Shelley Berkley, whose Las Vegas area is home to the constituents least likely to think that their city’s conditions are improving.
The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index provides overviews of each of the nation’s 435 congressional districts. Conducted by Gallup and co-sponsored by Healthways, a Nashville-based health care manager, the study randomly polled 1,000 people each day, nearly every day, for the past 25 months. The survey included 55 quality-of-life questions aimed at gauging respondents’ emotional and physical health.
The most cancer-ridden district? Rep. Zoe Lofgren’s Silicon Valley district around San Jose.
The fattest? Rep. Rodney Alexander’s Louisiana district, where constituents report having difficulty finding affordable fruit and vegetables and where many lack health insurance.
Across the board, the districts scoring the highest on the well-being index included Rep. John Campbell’s, which includes Orange County, whose median family income is among the highest in the nation, and Rep. Neil Abercrombie’s Hawaii district, where a large chunk of residents reported they had recently smiled or laughed.
Between 2008 and 2009, overall well-being across congressional districts stayed mostly stable, according to Gallup associate editor Elizabeth Mendes. But other subindexes, including healthy behavior and emotional health, saw more of a general downturn.
“Considering the poor economic conditions in 2009, the lack of change can be seen as a positive in one sense,” Mendes said. “But it is clear that community and governmental leaders are going to need to step in and do more to improve the well-being of their citizens.”
Among other things, the new data show that some districts now have a higher number of uninsured constituents.
The study found the highest percentage of uninsured constituents in Rep. Corrine Brown’s Florida district. In 2008, the district wasn’t even in the top 40 uninsured areas. But the Jacksonville area has been hit hard by the economic downturn — especially in the construction business, which has come to a near standstill in some areas. Brown voted to support House Democrats’ health care reform bill last fall.
Rep. Al Green’s greater-Houston-area district also had a significant bump in uninsured constituents. Gallup found that the district fell to the second-most-uninsured district. In 2008, Green’s district wasn’t even in the top 10.
The top four districts with the best health insurance rates all are in Massachusetts — not surprising, given that the state requires almost every resident to obtain health insurance.
The most depressed constituents in the country are those in Rep. Nick Rahall’s West Virginia district, the study found, followed by those in Rep. Hal Rogers’s Kentucky district, which includes part of poverty-stricken Appalachia.
Stress was the worst in Rep. Jean Schmidt’s Ohio district, which includes the suburbs of Cincinnati.
Rep. Ruben Hinojosa’s district is the happiest in the country, the study shows, but higher health numbers give Eshoo’s district the overall healthy-and-happy title.
The downside to life in California? Heart attacks. Rep. Jane Harman’s Los Angeles-area constituents reported a higher incidence of heart attacks than those in any other district, followed by the Northern Virginia district of Rep. Jim Moran, who represents much of the Washington work force.
California was also nailed by the flu virus last year. Among the top 10 districts where constituents said they had been sick with the flu, seven are in the Golden State. The district most in need of hand sanitizer: Rep. Grace Napolitano’s, in the Los Angeles suburbs.
