{"id":417826,"date":"2025-12-19T15:21:59","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T14:21:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=417826"},"modified":"2025-12-19T15:22:02","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T14:22:02","slug":"why-waste-money-on-a-climate-health-forecasting-tool-yale-when-climate-related-health-issues-are-declining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=417826","title":{"rendered":"Why Waste Money on a Climate Health Forecasting Tool, Yale, When Climate Related Health Issues Are Declining?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From ClimateRealism<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Linnea Lueken<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A recent post at Yale Climate Connections (YCC) titled \u201cClimate change is boosting health care costs<\/a>\u201d discusses a new online forecasting tool that tells employers extreme weather is getting worse due to climate change and will impact health more and thus raise insurance costs in the future. This is false. Extreme weather is not worsening, and weather and temperature related fatalities are in long term decline. So, it is reasonable to assume injuries are also not rising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

YCC begins by making the false observation that \u201c[c]limate disasters like hurricanes and heat waves can send people to the hospital with problems ranging from injuries to heat stroke,\u201d which \u201ccan lead to unexpected medical bills for families \u2013 and rising costs for employers who help pay for their employees\u2019 health insurance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since hurricanes, tornados, floods, and heatwaves are natural weather events, not a sign of climate change, there is no such thing as a \u201cclimate disaster.\u201d YCC is confusing weather events with climate, which is a statistical observation of a region\u2019s weather pattern over time. Only a long-term trend in worsening extreme weather events could suggest climate change is playing a role in such events, but no such trend is discernable in the data. Otherwise, this statement is not controversial, since any extreme weather event can cause injuries, which can lead to medical bills and higher insurance costs. If that was all this post was about it would hardly be worth critiquing, but YCC continues with some misinformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The post is basically an advertisement for an online tool that purports to calculate and predict climate change-caused increases in health care costs, developed by an HR firm called Mercer and the National Commission on Climate and Workforce Health. YCC reports that the tool \u201cshows companies how extreme heat, poor air quality, floods, and hurricanes could increase the cost of their employees\u2019 health care over the next decade,\u201d claiming that climate change is worsening those weather conditions and making them more hazardous for people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is false. The weather conditions discussed are not getting worse, which means they are not causing more harm to people by that metric.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is true that health insurance is becoming more expensive, but that is an economic issue, not a climate issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have good data for hurricanes, for example, which show they are not more frequent, nor more extreme, as discussed in dozens<\/a> of Climate Realism<\/em> posts. Over the decades, however, more people have moved to locations where hurricanes are relatively common, which leads to building more homes and infrastructure in these hurricane-prone areas. As such, when a hurricane strikes, more people are at risk of injury unless they take precautions, and more buildings are there to be destroyed. After a weather disaster, hospitalizations and lingering health effects do increase<\/a>, especially for people left to the elements by the disaster. But again, hurricanes are not worsening. So, demographic shifts, not climate, are to blame for higher costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Extreme heat is not getting worse<\/a>, the worst heatwaves on record occurred in the 1930s, (See figure below) and the average temperature anomaly data from the U.S. Climate Reference Network doesn\u2019t show any trend towards worse extremes.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Also, data clearly show that deaths from non-optimum temperatures<\/a> have declined significantly over the past century amid, and partly due to, modest warming. In fact, cold temperatures kill far more people than hot temperatures each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flooding is likewise not getting worse<\/a> or more common, despite media claims. Annual costs of flooding have declined over time despite the fact that more infrastructure now exists in flood zones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Air quality in the United States is the best it has been in more than a hundred years. The EPA reports<\/a> that \u201cair quality based on concentrations of the common pollutants has improved nationally since 1980.\u201d Air quality is not a climate change issue, unless you link it to wildfires. But wildfires<\/a> are not getting worse, which means smoke from them isn\u2019t hurting more people either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On top of all of this, the elephant in the room is the fact that deaths from extreme weather<\/a> are significantly down, by more than 99 percent, over the past century of climate change. (See figure below) While a dead person does not need health insurance, this fact should also indicate the amount of general injuries and sickness from extreme weather are also declining.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Graph<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

If, however, governments were to ban the use of fossil fuels and their byproducts, one would see a sharp sustained rise in the number of deaths due to weather and malnutrition. This is because fossil fuel-powered infrastructure, and all the products made with them, including medical technologies, are responsible for the improvement in quality of life for people around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

YCC should be embarrassed for shilling for this questionable, expensive, program. Just because it has the word \u201cclimate\u201d in the title doesn\u2019t mean it is useful to anyone. I suspect that the tool will not be especially accurate when compared to products that take more than the weather into account. Only Mercer and the National Commission on Climate and Workforce Health who sell the tool, and the insurance companies who will charge higher premiums blaming climate change rather than their own desire for larger profits and fewer justified payouts, will benefit from this tool. Those trying to purchase health, home, or business insurance will be harmed by higher rates or by being unable to obtain\/afford coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent post at Yale Climate Connections (YCC) titled \u201cClimate change is boosting health care costs\u201d discusses a new online forecasting tool that tells employers extreme weather is getting worse due to climate change and will impact health more and thus raise insurance costs in the future. This is false. Extreme weather is not worsening, and weather and temperature related fatalities are in long term decline. So, it is reasonable to assume injuries are also not rising.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":417834,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"Discover why claims linking climate change to rising healthcare costs are misleading. Explore real data on weather events and health impacts.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"Debunking Climate Change Myths: Health Care Costs Misconceptions","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"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.QTmv_y_JlQ08UB-EYHoX7nE1pNsui0jSeu7MqRMMhGYMQ"},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818056,691819743,691818514,691840201,691840202],"class_list":{"0":"post-417826","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-climate-change","9":"tag-climate-propaganda","10":"tag-extreme-weather","11":"tag-yale-climate-connections-ycc","12":"tag-climate-disasters-2","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AQO3dO3vt9IE0MDl_jD7q9PYtJniiyWItO-KVDzlMj-X1nphghTBPCNCI1Ygygax1Ec31aZGxStMceC_KSwbufJVBd31PAAeE9XrI0JdITZ0aZ0lrQVMZ6qDyd84yjdQ-1.jpeg?fit=1799%2C1019&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1KH8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":183187,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=183187","url_meta":{"origin":417826,"position":0},"title":"Yale Climate Connections Should Go Back to School for Equating a Year of Weather with Climate Change","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"17\/01\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"In a recently published article, titled \u201cWarmest U.S. December in history caps a stormy, mostly-sizzling year,\u201d Yale Climate Connections (YCC) says all of the weather events of the past year are proof of dangerous climate change. They mention the word climate no less than 17 times in the article while\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/00climate-deaths-1920-2021-e1641483852495-1024x918-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/00climate-deaths-1920-2021-e1641483852495-1024x918-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/00climate-deaths-1920-2021-e1641483852495-1024x918-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/00climate-deaths-1920-2021-e1641483852495-1024x918-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":257725,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=257725","url_meta":{"origin":417826,"position":1},"title":"Note to Yale Climate Connections \u2013 There Is no Link Between Droughts and Climate Change","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"16\/05\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"A May 11, 2023 opinion piece in Yale Climate Connections (YCC) titled, \u201cClimate change and droughts: What\u2019s the connection?\u201d link climate change and droughts in the United States. The opinion is provably false. There is no evidence climate change is making droughts in the United States worse.","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00110122_Editor_1600.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00110122_Editor_1600.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00110122_Editor_1600.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00110122_Editor_1600.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00110122_Editor_1600.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":419411,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=419411","url_meta":{"origin":417826,"position":2},"title":"No, Yale Climate Connections, Dramatic Photos Don\u2019t Prove Climate Change Effects","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/01\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The recent article in Yale Climate Connections, \u201cSix photos show how climate change shaped our world in 2025,\u201d by Samantha Harrington, presents a photo-driven narrative asserting that wildfires, floods, heat waves, hurricanes, and droughts in 2025 were \u201cmade more devastating and deadly by climate change.\u201d This is outright false. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate Central (CC)\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate Central (CC)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-central-cc"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQMEJ8xQofCYRvfhGcC6Mcv2PtJISsQ6u-X1L3PyzD5dge-wHNEdkKhnVpmlhU0Vg1YLGf4fEbIfYbJUqED32sswO4vXHrSOoJWYaZX0wXmXSx70epLQsHB61TJSa5qb.jpeg?fit=1000%2C608&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQMEJ8xQofCYRvfhGcC6Mcv2PtJISsQ6u-X1L3PyzD5dge-wHNEdkKhnVpmlhU0Vg1YLGf4fEbIfYbJUqED32sswO4vXHrSOoJWYaZX0wXmXSx70epLQsHB61TJSa5qb.jpeg?fit=1000%2C608&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQMEJ8xQofCYRvfhGcC6Mcv2PtJISsQ6u-X1L3PyzD5dge-wHNEdkKhnVpmlhU0Vg1YLGf4fEbIfYbJUqED32sswO4vXHrSOoJWYaZX0wXmXSx70epLQsHB61TJSa5qb.jpeg?fit=1000%2C608&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQMEJ8xQofCYRvfhGcC6Mcv2PtJISsQ6u-X1L3PyzD5dge-wHNEdkKhnVpmlhU0Vg1YLGf4fEbIfYbJUqED32sswO4vXHrSOoJWYaZX0wXmXSx70epLQsHB61TJSa5qb.jpeg?fit=1000%2C608&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":266089,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=266089","url_meta":{"origin":417826,"position":3},"title":"No, CNN, Climate Isn\u2019t the Cause of Excess Deaths in Europe","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"08\/07\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"CNN interview is titled \u201cW.H.O.: 1.4 million European deaths can be blamed on climate change, environment\u201d features a conversation with the World Health Organization\u2019s (WHO) Hans Kluge.","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/climate-deaths-1920-2021-e1641483852495-1-1024x918-1.webp?fit=1024%2C918&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/climate-deaths-1920-2021-e1641483852495-1-1024x918-1.webp?fit=1024%2C918&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/climate-deaths-1920-2021-e1641483852495-1-1024x918-1.webp?fit=1024%2C918&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/climate-deaths-1920-2021-e1641483852495-1-1024x918-1.webp?fit=1024%2C918&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":280515,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=280515","url_meta":{"origin":417826,"position":4},"title":"NOAA and the Media Continue to Misinform About Climate Change and Extreme Weather","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"26\/09\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The\u00a0Scientific American, among other mainstreams media outlets, such as\u00a0The New York Times\u00a0and\u00a0The Washington Post, are promoting claims made by\u00a0the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\u00a0(NOAA), that climate change is causing increased instances of extreme weather,\u00a0causing billions of dollars of damage.","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/OIG-2023-08-15T141942.710.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/OIG-2023-08-15T141942.710.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/OIG-2023-08-15T141942.710.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/OIG-2023-08-15T141942.710.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":192952,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=192952","url_meta":{"origin":417826,"position":5},"title":"Climate Facts Unwelcome at Wellcome, Climate Change Benefitting Not Harming Health","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"23\/03\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The London-based charitable foundation,\u00a0Wellcome, published a report claiming climate change poses a global public health threat. This is false. Contrary to the Wellcome\u2019s report, data show deaths related to extreme weather events and non-optimum temperatures have declined substantially during the recent period of modest warming. The authors of the Wellcome\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/0climateharmhealthdebunk.png?fit=1200%2C660&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/0climateharmhealthdebunk.png?fit=1200%2C660&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/0climateharmhealthdebunk.png?fit=1200%2C660&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/0climateharmhealthdebunk.png?fit=1200%2C660&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/0climateharmhealthdebunk.png?fit=1200%2C660&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=417826"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":417836,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417826\/revisions\/417836"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/417834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=417826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=417826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=417826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}