“We think of ourselves as in the same basket as the top ten worst health care states, like Mississippi and Alabama,” says Strom Courtland, member of the Idaho House, and chair of its Health and Welfare Committee. “As of now, we’re ranked something like 26th worst, but aspirationally we see ourselves much higher than that. The current list is dominated by the deep south, yet with our high rates of vaccination refusal, hatred of all forms of local and federal government presence, anti-abortion laws so lethal our docs are leaving and we can’t get any to replace them (plus of course several of our hospitals have closed their labor and delivery units!), and, finally, with a statewide disbelief in empirical science, our ranking can’t go anywhere but up.
And I’m particularly proud to announce today that, because so many of us don’t vaccinate our children, rates of WHOOPING COUGH – yes, you read that right, a painful protracted children’s disease eradicated in the nineteenth century! – have exploded in our state! Like KAAAPOWWWW!!!! Sit tight, Idaho, and watch all our babies cough up blood!“