Public policy and acknowledging America’s huge health care problem

The American health care system does a great job healing people who are sick. But what would happen if the nation focused making people healthy from birth? William Cooke, MD, is the town physician of Austin, Indiana, has received national attention and accolades for working there when the opioid epidemic led to a local HIV epidemic. He described his experiences in his book, “Canary in the Coal Mine: A Forgotten Rural Community, A Hidden Epidemic, and a Lone Doctor Battling for the Life, Health, and Soul of the People.”