Commonwealth Fund January 25, 2022
Toplines
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the cracks in the U.S. public health infrastructure and the need for significant and sustained investment
Policies included in the Build Back Better Act would include more than $2 billion to address core public health infrastructure and enhance our ability to respond to infectious and chronic diseases and environmental hazards
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the impact of the chronic underfunding of the U.S. public health system. Despite research showing that investing in public health leads to better outcomes and calls for greater investment in public health, per capita spending before the pandemic totaled less than 3 percent of total health care spending.
During the pandemic, Congress passed relief and recovery bills addressing acute...