Smart Talk Thursday: Why doesn’t the non-voter vote?; Surprise medical bills

A little more than 60 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot in the last presidential election in 2016.

Minnesota had the highest voter turnout at about 75 percent and Hawaii had the lowest at 43 percent. In Pennsylvania, more than 63 percent voted for a presidential candidate.

With the exception of just a couple of elections, voter participation has been going down since 1960.

So, why are so many Americans not voting?

A pair of Susquehanna University political science professors have conducted research on that question.

Rolfe Peterson, Ph.D., and Nick Clark, Ph.D., identified four types of non-voters and four reasons for not voting. Non-voters were broken down into the apathetic, the obstructed, the incapable and the conditional non-voter.

Dr. Peterson and Dr. Clark appear on Thursday’s Smart Talk to provide details of their research and how to get more people to vote.

Also on Smart Talk, have you ever received a large medical bill that you didn’t expect? One that maybe you though your health isnurance covered but didn’t?

On Thursday’s Smart Talk, we discuss a campaign to eliminate surprise medical bills.

Patrick Keenan, Director of Policy for the Pennsylvania Health Access Network joins us.