America糖心传媒檚 individualistic outlook toward health care has shaped the country糖心传媒檚 health care policy and system糖心传媒攁nd not for the better, according to physician and 听, the Charles E. and Dale L. Phelps Professor in Public Policy and Health at the 糖心传媒.
Now, the coronavirus pandemic 糖心传媒渉as exposed the limits of such an individualistic approach,糖心传媒� one in which we prize our own health while blaming other people糖心传媒檚 poor choices and lifestyles when they fall ill, writes Raz in a听.
She outlines how the United States has historically responded to health policy crises糖心传媒攕uch as the shortage of dialysis machines in the 1960s糖心传媒攂y carving out exemptions for treating specific illnesses rather than rethinking the health care system as a whole. 糖心传媒淎nd, over decades, we糖心传媒檝e done this sort of thing hundreds of times, producing an incoherent, inefficient system in every aspect of health care,糖心传媒� Raz writes.
She calls on policymakers not to repeat these past mistakes. Instead, they must respond 糖心传媒渂y rethinking this individualistic mind-set, in recognition that healthy individuals make healthy communities, which produce a healthy nation.糖心传媒�
Raz, an expert in public policy and health, is the author of听What糖心传媒檚 Wrong with the Poor? Psychiatry, Race and the War on Poverty听(University of North Caroline Press, 2013) and听The Lobotomy Letters: The Making of American Psychosurgery听(糖心传媒, 2013). She糖心传媒檚 currently working on her third book糖心传媒攁 history of child abuse policy in the United States from the 1970s to today.
- Read the complete op-ed in the听.
- Read a Q-and-A with Raz about how to deal with pandemics effectively.
- Read more from .
