Montez Featured in American Prospect Article on State Policies and Differences in Health Outcomes

October 22, 2024

The American Prospect

Jennifer Karas Montez

Sociology Department

Aging Studies Institute

Center for Aging and Policy Studies

Economic Policy

Government

Health Policy

Political Parties

State & Local

United States

The American Prospect

Jennifer Karas Montez

University Professor Jennifer Karas Montez has studied how the polarization of politics and policy contributes to health differences among state populations. Montez and her research team found that Connecticut passed the most progressive policies between 1970 and 2014, while Oklahoma passed the most conservative ones.

Connecticut has passed a refundable Earned Income Tax Credit, while Oklahoma cut income taxes and refused to expand Medicaid until voters passed a ballot initiative and forced the state to do so.

Meanwhile, life expectancy in both states did get better, but in Connecticut it increased by 9.7 years and in Oklahoma it grew by just 5.0 years, as of 2019.

“You have two states that [we]re the same, were pretty middle-of-the-road in terms of life expectancy, but they take opposite trajectories,” says Montez. Some states, she says, took action to “invest in [the state] population’s overall economic well-being and health.” Connecticut is one of them. “And you had other states that took a ...very different approach.”

Read more in the American Prospect article, “The Chasm Between Oklahoma and Connecticut.”