Hey Candidates: Where’s the Health in your Health Plans?
By:
NWHF Staff
| Posted on: May 15th, 2008
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Categories:
Policies & Laws •
Public Health
Both of the two presidential candidates offer a detailed plan for “health care” reform. But do you see them speak very much about public health, or even just “health?” Is there a difference? Does it matter?
John McCain tells us he’s willing to address the “fundamental problem” of “the rapidly rising cost of U.S. health care,” and the way to do that is by allowing families to “be in charge of their health care dollars and have more control over their care.” Obama promises that “If you are one of the 45 million Americans who don’t have health insurance, you will have it after this plan becomes law.”
Health insurance reform is a noble goal and an important policy issue, and reducing the number of people without insurance will go along way to improve the public’s health. But if improving the health of the public is what they seek to do, might they spend a more time addressing the root causes of health? Might they talk about the evidence-based public health interventions that most equitably and cost-effectively improve the health of the population? Might they talk about education, housing, and environmental issues as means of improving our health. After all, isn’t health care just one way of getting to health?
If doctors, hospitals, and pharmaceuticals are so expensive, wouldn’t it be a good idea to spend more time figuring out how to avoid such treatments for sickness in the first place?
Why is this type of talk largely missing from presidential dialogues?
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CNN did a feature on the two presumed candidates (Obama and McCain) on Sunday evening, including a segment on healthcare. The features focused on the usual expanding insurance coverage and costs issues, and made no mention about a long-term plan that includes community-based health programs, or policies that focus on prevention, let alone public health systems. We need to be sure our elected are putting public health efforts as well as healthcare reform talk into the healthcare solution formula.