Have we overlooked the public health aspect of health care reform? - birdsonawire

From the Birds on a Wire blog In the ongoing health care reform debate, we’ve heard and read how health care reform will or will not work, what it will or will not cost, and how it will or will not impact each one of us as individuals.

We’ve also heard from those who have great faith in our current system and sincerely believe we should leave it alone.

It may work well for some people, but, on the whole, our nation does not hold up well in international comparisons. In fact, we came in 37th on the World Health Report 2000 and, according to a London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine report, the U.S. has the highest rate of preventable deaths among 19 industrialized nations. Clearly, there’s room for improvement.

My question is, if we spend billions on health care reform, will that improve public health, or not?

For answers, I turned to Howard K. Koh, M.D., assistant secretary for health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
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