NEJM December 14, 2016
The common goal of health policy leaders at the level of state government in the United States is promoting the health and well-being of all populations to the greatest extent possible within fixed resource constraints. Our health is affected by our physical and social environments, our genes, our economic and educational opportunities, and to a much lesser degree, the medical care we receive.1 State leaders understand that as a society we are spending our health care dollars in the wrong ways for the wrong things — emphasizing treatment over prevention and medical care over social services.2
States have responsibility for many of the factors that affect population health, including Medicaid programs, public health activities, commercial insurance regulation, and economic development...