How do policy and politics influence the social conditions that generate health outcomes?

Reduced life expectancy, worsening health outcomes, health inequity, and declining health care options—these are now realities for most Americans. However, in a country of more than 325 million people, addressing everyone's issues is challenging. How can we effect beneficial change for everyone so we all can thrive? What is the great equalizer?

In this book, Daniel E. Dawes argues that political determinants of health create the social drivers—including poor environmental conditions, inadequate transportation, unsafe neighborhoods, and lack of healthy food options—that affect all other dynamics of health. By understanding these determinants, their origins, and their impact on the equitable distribution of opportunities and resources, we will be better equipped to develop and implement actionable solutions to close the health gap.

Dawes draws on his firsthand experience helping to shape major federal policies, including the Affordable Care Act, to describe the history of efforts to address the political determinants that have resulted in health inequities. Taking us further upstream to the underlying source of the causes of inequities, Dawes examines the political decisions that lead to our social conditions, makes the social determinants of health more accessible, and provides a playbook for how we can address them effectively. A thought-provoking and evocative account that considers both the policies we think of as "health policy" and those that we don't, The Political Determinants of Health provides a novel, multidisciplinary framework for addressing the systemic barriers preventing the United States from becoming the healthiest nation in the world.

Foreword, by David R. Williams
Chapter 1. The Allegory of the Orchard: The Political Determinants of Health Inequities
Chapter 2. Setting the Precedent: America's Attempts to Address the Political Determinants of Health Inequities
Chapter 3. The Political Determinants of Health Model
Chapter 4. How the Game Is Played: Successful Employment of the Political Determinants of Health
Chapter 5. Winning the Game That Never Ends: Success Means Continuous Employment of the Political Determinants of Health
Chapter 6. Growing Pains: Tackling the Political Determinants of Health Inequities during a Challenging Period
Chapter 7. The Future of Health Equity Begins and Ends with the Political Determinants of Health
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index

"Political Determinants of Health should be commended for packing an immense amount of theory, history, and health advocacy into a relatively concise text."

"This is a must-read for all those who advocate toward a 'healthy, equitable, and inclusive society.'"

"This book deserves to be in classrooms, community reading programs, and government public health agencies. Although the 2016 elections were a setback for the health equity movement, Dawes has given us a rich and important resource for planning ahead."

"An attorney, scholar, and health policy expert, Dawes is also a capable storyteller... Dawes is insistent: We're approaching an inflection point, and we can't afford to embrace a partial commitment to equality in health care. The final chapter of his book argues that the future of health equity begins and ends with the political determinants of health. What follows is a rallying cry to harness the political process to implement more equitable and inclusive health policies. As the COVID-19 pandemic underlines the ways in which our nation is sharply divided by racial and socioeconomic disparities, we need to address the political determinants of health or risk an incalculable setback."