Introduction to Public Policy and Public Health
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH · MODULE 7
What is public health?
Public health is population-focused (as opposed to clinical medicine’s individual focus) and organized around three core functions identified by the CDC:
1 · Assessment
Collect and evaluate data to identify community health needs.
2 · Policy development
Use that data to inform, mobilize partners, and craft policy.
3 · Assurance
Ensure people have access to the services and legal protections needed to be healthy.
The 10 Essential Public Health Services
The three functions are put into practice through a framework first developed in 1994 and still used by the CDC today. Examples include:
Monitor health status
Investigate health hazards
Communicate health information
Mobilize community partnerships
Develop policies and law
Enforce laws and regulations
Ensure equitable access to care
Build the public health workforce
Drive continuous quality improvement
Health Care and Public Health Law
Law | What it does |
Public Health Service Act (1944) | Foundational statute establishing federal public health authority, including much of the legal basis for CDC and NIH |
Affordable Care Act (2010) | Established marketplaces, Medicaid expansion, preventive service mandates and pre-existing condition protections |
Medicaid and Medicare (Social Security Act Titles XIX and XVIII) | Primary public insurance programs; currently being reshaped by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) |
HIPAA (1996) | Governs health information privacy; relevant to any data collection |
Environment, Food, and Vaccines
Clean Air Act (1970) and Clean Water Act (1972)
Core environmental statutes. EPA's authority to regulate air and water pollutants tied to public health is currently being contested.
FDA authority (FD&C Act)
Governs drug, food and vaccine approval and safety regulation.
CDC's ACIP
Not a law; an Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices whose recommendations become CDC policy and drive insurance vaccine coverage. Currently in litigation.
The endangerment finding
2009: EPA determined that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare, which is the legal basis for regulating them under the Clean Air Act.
February 12, 2026: EPA finalized a rule repealing the finding and rescinded vehicle greenhouse gas standards. Health, science and environmental groups have filed legal challenges; a 2025 National Academies review found the evidence had "stood the test of time."
Cost-Benefit Rule Changes (2026)
The pollutants
Fine particulate matter and ozone are linked to asthma, cardiovascular disease and premature death.
The change
EPA no longer factors the monetary value of the health benefits of avoided deaths into its analysis. Only the cost of compliance to polluters is counted.
Environmental Justice
Communities of color and low-income communities are disproportionately exposed to air pollution and the effects of climate change. Researchers link this pattern to:
Historical redlining
Industrial zoning
Under-investment
In state and local environmental and public health agencies and infrastructure.
References
MODULE 7