Healthcare and Environment Committee – July 2026

Jean Marsch, Chair

The next meeting of the Healthcare and Environment Committee will be Wednesday, July 8 at 10:30 am via  Zoom. All are welcome. Contact Jean Marsch at jean.marsch@gmail.com for the Zoom link.

Two Articles from KFF Health and Wellbeing Series

February 14, 2026: The United States spends more on health care than any similarly large and wealthy country. However, in 2023, Americans had a life expectancy of 78.4 years, compared to an average of 82.5 among peer countries. Read more at KFF.

March 31, 2026: On average, the United States has a lower life expectancy than comparable countries. In 2024, life expectancy in the U.S. reached an all-time high of 79 years but remained years behind the average in comparable countries. Read the Health System Tracker.  

The Environmental Impacts of Data Centers

On February 11, 2026, a virtual forum was co-sponsored by the  LWV of the Lacrosse  Area and LWV Dane County as a statewide League  event. This link will take you to the recording which is approximately 90 minutes.

With the dramatic increase of AI applications, cloud services, and crypto-mining, data centers are proliferating across the country (and the world), and Wisconsin is not immune. Data centers promise to be a boon to local economies, including employment opportunities and large increases in local tax revenues. And yet there are questions. What we do know from locations that now have data centers is that a number of concerns should be addressed sooner rather than later. Listen to three experts explain the reason for data centers including known and potential impacts.