NOW PLAYING
The strength of our public health system represents one of the most overlooked national assets and political opportunities in America today. It safeguards our food and water, prepares communities for disasters, detects emerging threats, and addresses chronic diseases that burden families, employers and government budgets. It protects military readiness, workforce productivity and community resilience.
A strong public health system is not simply good policy; it is one of America’s greatest competitive advantages. Health is not separate from our national priorities. It makes them possible.
Our founders understood this.
In 1777, Gen. George Washington ordered the inoculation of the Continental Army against smallpox. The decision was controversial, but Washington recognized that disease posed as great a threat to independence as the British Army. Had smallpox swept unchecked through the Continental ranks, the outcome of the Revolutionary War might have been very different.
Throughout our history, public health has helped translate that principle into practice. In the 19th century, infectious diseases routinely overwhelmed American communities. Life expectancy was short, infant mortality was high, and outbreaks disrupted commerce and daily life.
What changed was not initially medicine. It was public health. Clean drinking water, modern sewer systems, food safety protections, housing reforms, and vaccination programs dramatically reduced disease and death long before the discovery of antibiotics. These investments allowed cities to grow, businesses to expand, and workers to power industrialization and economic growth. Public health programs did not simply save lives. They helped build modern America.
Reasonable people can disagree about vaccine policy and how public health programs should be funded, organized and carried out. But the larger principle should not be controversial: every community benefits from a strong public health system.
As governors, we learned that strong economies depend on healthy workers, educational success depends on healthy children, and emergency preparedness depends on strong public health systems.
We may not have always agreed with our public health directors on how to achieve those goals, but we never doubted that protecting the public’s health was essential to the security and prosperity of our states.
That shared belief is what brought us together on the National Commission on Local Public Health Leadership. Our goal was not to erase political differences, but to identify practical steps communities across the country can take to strengthen public health while respecting local priorities.
New recommendations from the Commission aim to build a unified, actionable vision for public health that honors different perspectives while putting the health of every American first.
The Commission’s roadmap recognizes that public health extends well beyond health departments. Businesses, schools, hospitals, emergency responders, faith communities, agricultural leaders, and local governments all have a role to play. It provides practical steps to strengthen those partnerships, improve local health data, ensure reliable access to personal protective equipment, and better prepare communities for future emergencies.
The federal government will be crucial to support these partnerships, as most public health departments rely on it for funding and leadership.
Recent polling found that while local health departments remain substantially more trusted than federal entities, trust in public health agencies has fallen at every level over the past year. Policymakers and public health leaders must take that concern seriously. The polling also makes clear where trust lives today and where the opportunity is greatest: in communities, with the local leaders and health workers people know.
At the exact moment our public health infrastructure needs strengthening, it’s being neglected. We’re weakening our defenses while the threats remain: disease outbreaks, natural disasters and more. That is the political opportunity.
For 250 years, America has changed in ways its Founders could never have imagined. We have industrialized, urbanized, landed on the moon, connected the world through technology, and rebuilt ourselves through moments of triumph and crisis.
Through all of that change, one truth has endured. The strength of the nation depends on the health of its people. George Washington understood it. We would be wise to remember it.
John Kasich is a former Republican governor of Ohio and chair of the National Commission on Public Health Leadership. Steve Beshear is a former Democratic governor of Kentucky and a member of the National Commission on Public Health Leadership. Brian C. Castrucci, DrPH, is the president and chief executive officer of the de Beaumont Foundation, which convened the National Commission on Public Health Leadership.
Add as preferred source on Google Tags Continental Army de Beaumont Foundation Gen. George Washington George WashingtonCopyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Comments: Link copiedMore Opinions - Healthcare News
See All
Opinions - Healthcare What California’s nurse staffing law cannot measure by Pasha Eizadkhah, opinion contributor 5 days ago Opinions - Healthcare / 5 days ago 
