Health security

Why access to health care is a national security issue

Early last month, US House Republicans rammed through the American Health Care Act, a remarkably regressive piece of legislation that, among other flaws, would be disastrous for pandemic planning and preparedness. The bill eliminates funding for the Prevention and Public Health Fund, which was created under the 2010 Affordable Care Act to invest in vaccination programs, electronic laboratory reporting of infectious diseases, and infection-prevention programs. Vaccines are an important preventive strategy against deadly pandemics, while electronic lab reporting facilitates a rapid response to disease. In other words, these are precisely the funds that will be needed to prevent the next Ebola or Zika virus from turning into a national catastrophe.