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Category: commentary

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Commentary

“The Great Healthcare Plan” Sounds Simple. Healthcare Isn’t.

If you’ve ever tried to compare health insurance plans, argue with a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), or figure out why your prescription costs more than your rent, you know the U.S. healthcare system has a special talent for making basic things feel impossible. That’s why a short, punchy policy document like The Great Healthcare Plan […]

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Commentary

When Surveillance Becomes a Social Determinant of Health

Juan Sebastián Pinto’s explosive essay is framed as a story about war, Silicon Valley, and authoritarianism—but for public health, it should read like an emergency briefing. What he describes is the rapid conversion of surveillance, data extraction, and narrative control into tools of population management. That has direct, measurable consequences for health, equity, and democracy. […]

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Commentary

How “Gold-Standard Science” Has Been Weaponized in Public Health

As we close out the year, I want to revisit one of my least favorite trends. The misappropriation of scientific language. In public health, few phrases carry more authority than “gold-standard science.” It signals rigor, objectivity, and trustworthiness. But increasingly, this language is being repurposed—not to improve decisions, but to shut them down. What was […]

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Commentary

Data-Driven vs. Data-Informed Decision-Making in Public Health

Across nearly every sector, data has become central to decision-making. In public health, the rise of dashboards, performance metrics, and predictive analytics has fueled a strong push toward data-driven decision-making. On the surface, this approach feels logical. Using data to guide choices promises efficiency, accountability, and objectivity. But public health rarely operates in controlled or […]

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Commentary

Mission or Margin: How Nonprofits Are Becoming Private Equity in Disguise

The Betrayal of the Nonprofit Promise Fifty years ago, the American nonprofit sector was anchored by trust. Community hospitals, faith-based charities, and behavioral health providers existed to fill the gaps left by markets and government alike. But in 2025, a darker transformation is unfolding. Large nonprofit health systems are increasingly behaving like private equity (PE) […]

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Commentary

Resilience or Ruin? The Future of U.S. Public Health — Coming Soon

America’s public health system is standing at a crossroads. Over the past several years, the foundations that protect our communities—disease prevention, outbreak response, and population surveillance—have been weakened by political interference, funding cuts, and leadership instability. Resilience or Ruin? The Future of U.S. Public Health, a forthcoming report from This Week in Public Health, reveals […]

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Commentary

Measuring Equity in an Age of Disinvestment: A Critical Look at IHI’s New Framework

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s (IHI) 2025 white paper, Advancing Health Equity: An Approach to Systematically Identify and Evaluate Health Disparities, offers a structured, evidence-based pathway for health systems to measure inequities in care. It arrives at a crucial moment. The very concept of “equity” has become politically fraught, and when public health infrastructure itself […]

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Commentary

Taking the Fight to Facebook: A Pilot of Science vs. Spin

Public health doesn’t just happen in hospitals or labs—it happens in the comment section.At This Week in Public Health, we’re running a real-time experiment on Facebook to see whether evidence-based engagement can actually change how people talk about health online. Instead of arguing or correcting from a distance, we’re testing a structured set of conversations […]

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Commentary

Why Public Health Must Oppose Fascism

When we talk about threats to public health, we usually think about diseases, disasters, or lack of medical care. But political systems also shape health. One of the biggest dangers to wellbeing is fascism. Fascist governments do more than limit freedom. They also create conditions that harm the health of individuals, families, and entire communities. […]

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Commentary

When Public Health Is Reframed Against Itself: A Critical Look at CDC’s New Priorities

Public health professionals across the country work daily to build trust, protect communities, and advance equity. So when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), long considered the world’s leading public health agency, updates its priorities, we all pay attention. Unfortunately, the newly released priorities statement raises serious concerns. While it speaks the language […]

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Commentary

After the Kirk Killing: Public Health, Justice, and Politicizing Violence

In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, senior officials like JD Vance framed the tragedy as proof of a coordinated “left-wing domestic terror movement,” vowing sweeping crackdowns on nonprofits and activists. To be clear: Investigators have not established a motive, yet the rhetoric has raced ahead of the facts, turning a criminal investigation into a […]

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