On episode 133, Dan talks with Washington Post reporters Lauren Weber and Dan Diamond about their must-read reporting on life expectancy in Ohio. How Red-State Politics Are Shaving Years Off American Lives is a sobering, thoughtful, and carefully reported article that all Ohioans should read (full disclosure: Dan talked with the reporters for this article, and is quoted in it). In the conversation, Weber and Diamond discuss reactions to the piece so far; the relationship between public health and perceptions of liberty; Ohio’s place within larger national conversations; the lack of democratic responsiveness in Ohio politics; and other issues that show the dire health consequences of Ohio’s failure to prioritize public health and safety.
About the guests:
Lauren Weber joined The Washington Post in 2023 as an accountability reporter focused on the forces promoting scientific and medical disinformation. She previously investigated the decimated public health system and covid disparities for Kaiser Health News from St. Louis. Her work on a series called “Underfunded and Under Threat” — a collaboration between Kaiser Health News and the Associated Press that revealed the shattered state of the nation’s state and local public health systems — won the ONA University of Florida Award in Investigative Data Journalism and the AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Gold Award. She also previously worked as a health policy enterprise reporter at the Huffington Post.
Dan Diamond is a national health reporter for The Washington Post, focused on accountability, federal agencies and public health. He joined The Post in 2021 after covering the Trump administration for Politico, where he won a George Polk award for investigating political interference in the pandemic response. His investigations into a range of topics, including Trump officials' use of taxpayer-funded charter jets, not-for-profit hospitals' spending and how Congress stripped Pacific Islanders of their health coverage, have also been honored with several journalism awards. Honors and Awards: George Polk Award, 2020; Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting finalist, 2021
Namechecks and links:
- On changing driving laws in Ohio, including distracted driving changes recently implemented.
- Weber and Diamond note that this article is part of a bigger series in which they Post is exploring a variety of perspectives on life expectancy in the U.S.
- Diamond mentioned the Health Policy Institute of Ohio’s work on health disparities in Ohio.
- You can subscribe to the Washington Post here.
