MLK and Health Justice: Why Voting Still Shapes Life Expectancy

Have you heard anyone say things like, “Voting doesn’t make a difference,” or “I don’t get involved in politics,” Or maybe you feel that way. Whenever I hear that, I think about a quote from  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1966 at a press conference before his speech at the Medical Committee for Human Rights convention: “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhuman.”

This quote is not just about whether you can see a doctor or not, albeit important as well. It calls out the systems that decide who lives longer, and how well they live. That is, quality of life and what we now refer to as social determinants of health. And in 2026, we are still fighting the negative impact of those same systems—just with different names and more sophisticated tools.

While we have made legislative advances in de jure segregation and inequities, we have a ways to go when we think about how racist inequalities have shapeshifted and manifested itself in more benign ways. The tactics have changed, but the goal is the same: to chip away at basic rights, especially for people pushed to the margins, impacting health and quality of living.

Here is what I want you to know: your voting participation and civic engagement in between elections is essential for your optimal health. 

It’s Not “Politics.” It’s Your Life Expectancy.

When people say, “Voting doesn’t matter,” I want to ask them some simple questions:

• Do you want to live longer or shorter than the U.S. life expectancy average, which is about 76 years for males and 81 years for females?  

• During those years, do you want to be sicker or healthier?  

•  Are you okay with having less energy, more pain, and fewer options because of where you live and what you earn?

If your answers to the above are longer, healthier, and “I’ll take more energy and no pain, please,” then listen up. According to Harvard Health Publishing’s, Dr. Rober H. Shmerling,  “We can all vow to exercise more, choose a healthier diet, and work harder to be healthy as best we can. But public health and political leaders also have important roles to play, particularly for marginalized, disadvantaged citizens” (emphasis added). 

Most of us care a lot about our personal health—blood pressure, weight, exercise, food choices. But we rarely talk about the public health conditions that quietly shape our lives like whether the following are in place in our neighborhoods:

• parks, swimming pools, and safe walking paths.  

• local schools that can afford trips, camps, and enrichment that broaden their students’ horizons.  

• or a nearby clinic or hospital instead of a lone, overcrowded emergency room across town.

All of those are shaped by policy decisions, which are shaped by those who hold power. And who holds power is shaped directly by the people who vote and by how districts are drawn.

My Dad, Vidal Easton, a New Orleans educator, also worked for many years at swimming pools and summer programs, many of which are now either closed or greatly reduced in availability. This is a concrete example of how policy changes and advocacy shaped kids’ health and safety. Without such programs readily available, what do you think happens to kids’ health and their long-term views of what it means to live a longer, more energized, and healthier life?

The Cost of Being Sick in an Unfair System

Health injustice isn’t just about where summer programs are or where a hospital is built. It’s also about who can afford to walk in the door. The Poor People’s Campaign, launched by Dr. King in 1967, notes that 87 million people in the United States are either uninsured or underinsured due to rising health care costs. 

Many people simply can’t pay:

• Monthly premiums that rival their rent.  

• Deductibles so high they might as well not be covered.  

• Copays for medications they need to stay alive.

A struggle I also identify with as a small business owner. 

So they end up having to decide between buying groceries or filling their prescription, keeping their home or paying for the specialist my doctor says is needed.

Congress has repeatedly tried to eliminate the Affordable Care Act without a serious plan to replace it. That is not a neutral act. It is a decision, made in the halls of power, that falls hardest on poor and working‑class people, Black and Brown communities, and anyone whose health is fragile and whose wallet is thin.

So this King Holiday, when we reflect on the impact of Dr. King’s life and work, especially shocking, inhumane health injustice, so identified because it impacts who is allowed to live, and under what conditions, think about who these injustices impact most–think about how it impacts YOU and your ability to live a long, healthy life. 

After reflecting, I want you to Do Something With M.E.: see and use your vote as a Health Intervention. Use your power to engage elected officials and influence policy that promotes vibrant, healthy living conditions like those as part of the demands of the Poor People’s Campaign, a Dr. King legacy. You can find fact sheets on those issues affecting your health and healthy environments in your state on the Poor People’s Campaign Fact Sheets Website. 

So when I talk about voting and civic engagement, I’m not asking you to become a political junkie. I am inviting you to see voting as a health behavior, just like getting screened for cancer or going for a walk.

Remember this truth: the trajectory of your voting power is connected to your health and longevity:  

Vote → Policy → Neighborhood → Stress & Exposure → Health & Longevity.

You may not feel that chain immediately, but your body and your years on this earth will.

Here’s A Small Checklist of Steps You Can Take This Week Toward Health Equity in Honor of Dr. King:

• Check your voter registration status this week. Make sure you’re registered at your current address and know your polling place.  

• Find one policy issue near you that clearly touches health—redistricting, a hospital closing, a new industrial or data facility, or a change to insurance or Medicaid rules.  Health Affairs Forefront is a good resource to find out what’s happening in health policy nationwide. 

• Share what you learn with one person you care about. Not as “politics,” but as a conversation about how long and how well you both want to live.

Health injustice is indeed the most shocking inequality. Our job is to refuse to normalize it—and to use every tool we have, including our vote, to fight back.