Happy New Year to our readers, and thank you for joining us as we welcome in 2025.
Two weeks ago, we took time to review and celebrate our first-ever blog theme: Climate Change and Public Health. We learned a lot during our first year with a theme, and we will take those lessons into 2025. We are far from done discussing the issue of climate change. Just as this issue is not done with us, obviously. But we are broadening the scope with this year’s theme.
The Political Determinants of Health
In 2025, our new theme captures how politics shapes health, healthcare systems, and the practice of medicine. We invite authors to consider how politics influences our well-being. The resulting political determinants of health are at the root of why certain communities experience better health than others.
Briefly, the political determinants of health are the policy decisions in government that affect the conditions in which people live. These determinants include laws, regulations, and the distribution of resources that impact health. The ‘administration of political power’ using these tools creates, or detracts from, the public’s health.
For instance, decisions about funding for health care, public health programs, environmental regulations, and education all affect health. As Daniel E. Dawes explains in his book, The Political Determinants of Health [free preview here] these factors create social conditions—like unequal access to health care, poor environmental quality or unhealthy food environments—that lead to health disparities.
In some countries, political decisions have led to universal healthcare systems. In others, political choices have rendered healthcare for most people dependent on factors like employment or income. Policies related to safety-net health insurance programs like Medicaid are controversial and particularly revealing about underlying political values. There is a lot for our authors to unpack about the politics of health care.
For perhaps the quickest read, check out this description of the political determinants by the Satcher Institute. Slightly more in-depth, but still digestible, we recommend this synthesis from a Civitas roundtable on the issue. The latter includes some important areas of advocacy for policy reforms, including data interoperability, maternal health, Medicaid partnerships, and tribal health.
Public Health and Medical Professionals Must Also Become Advocates
A call to action for those working in public health and medicine is also central to our new theme. We think professionals in our respective fields must be involved in the development of the policies. And to do so, we need to be fluent in the political mechanisms from which these drivers of health flow.
Advocacy and civic engagement, for example, are crucial in shaping the political determinants. By voting, advocacy and lobbying, community organizing, or greater public discourse, we can influence decisions that affect health outcomes. We encourage our contributors to share lessons and examples for our readers about advocacy and other forms of civic engagement.
Public health and medical professionals possess unique insight into how policy decisions affect health. By stepping into advocacy roles, they can elevate health as a central consideration in policy debates. They can push for systemic changes beyond just health care and public health policy that address the root causes of health inequities. This is often referred to as a Health in All Policies approach.
This means urging policymakers to evaluate every policy decision, from tax laws to budgets, urban planning to land access and beyond, through the lens of its impact on health. It is up to those with a voice, however small it may seem, to ensure that the political determinants of health advance, not undermine, the goal of improving health.
A Statement of Intention by the Editors of The Medical Care Blog 
As we step into 2025, the fields of public health and medicine have a vital opportunity to embrace the Health in All Policies approach to interpreting and evaluating all policy and political developments. This perspective begins with recognition that health outcomes are shaped by policies across ALL sectors, including housing, transportation, education, and the environment. By embedding health considerations into all policy discussions and analyses, professionals can highlight the interconnectedness of political actions and public well-being. Let us commit to making health equity a cornerstone of our evaluations. As a collective field, we must advocate for decisions that promote the health and dignity of all communities. This proactive stance can illuminate the complex and far-reaching impacts of policy choices and guide policymakers toward creating a healthier and more equitable society.
To formalize this new theme, The Medical Care Blog declares 2025 our year of action to highlight the political determinants of health. Our blog and our podcast will circle back, again and again, to highlight and share work that addresses the connection between politics, policy, and health, and furthers the public’s understanding of these relationships.
As we enter into a year characterized, for now, by uncertainty in terms of the policy and politics of the public’s health, we aim to anchor our work in an awareness of the myriad ways that politics impacts health. With this objective in mind, we will continue to advocate for the consideration of health in politics and all policies.