Who the Health Cares?

A Podcast With Host Michael Sparer

Politics, Public Health, and You

America has 3,300 local health departments. Agencies most of us never think about until there's a crisis. They respond to disease outbreaks, inspect restaurants, ensure safe drinking water, and coordinate emergency responses. Yet their work remains invisible, their budgets perpetually squeezed, and their authority increasingly questioned.

"Who the Health Cares?" explores how the United States built this public health system, why it struggles for resources and trust, and what it would take to strengthen it. Host Michael Sparer traces the origins of American public health from 1866 garbage collection and Constitutional debates to today's vaccine controversies, revealing the hidden infrastructure your community's health depends on.

Understanding public health isn't about politics—it's about understanding the systems that protect us all. From keeping food safe to preventing epidemics, these 3,300 departments do work that matters.

Who the health cares? We all should.

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Host

Michael Sparer, JD, PHD
- Director, Center for Public Health Systems
Michael S. Sparer, JD, PhD, is Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, where he has taught for over 30 years. He directs the Center for Public Health Systems, which examines how America's fragmented public health infrastructure functions and how it can better serve communities.

Professor Sparer studies the politics of health care, with particular emphasis on health insurance and delivery systems for low- and middle-income populations. Before his academic career, he spent seven years as a litigator for the New York City Law Department. He is a three-time recipient of Columbia teaching excellence awards and former editor of the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law.