When Health Became Wealth: the Progressive Era and the Economic Foundations of Public Health in the United States
Join us this October for the Fall 2026 History of Medicine Lecture!
Title: When Health Became Wealth: the Progressive Era and the Economic Foundations of Public Health in the United States
Speaker: Dr. Michael T. Halpern
Date: Tuesday, October 20th, 6pm, Virtual
Register: https://uthealthsa.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_iHxbhEUWTRCUff4TDiBRwA#/registration
Today, many countries require assessment of the economic value of new drugs, medical technologies, or public health interventions relative to their health impacts; however, in the U.S., there is often resistance to directly considering costs per improved heath outcome. Perhaps surprisingly, this resistance is relatively new. The U.S. Progressive Era (1890-1920) was a period of societal reforms, with legislation empowering women, workers, immigrants, and the poor. During this period, reformers argued for the benefits of improving health conditions for underserved populations. Building on broader work on the “value of human life”, public health professionals began to justify programs to fight mosquito-borne illnesses, improve water supplies, increase the safety of food and drugs, and screen for tuberculosis by demonstrating the economic savings of these programs relative to their costs.
Although this approach had wide acceptance, even proponents expressed concerns about a “cold-blooded method of calculating the value of life and health in terms of dollars”. This controversy remains today, with disagreements about “value-based care” and difficulties identifying which health care services are truly “worth it”.
About Dr. Halpern
Michael T. Halpern, MD, PhD, MPH is Professor and Founding Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Health Services Administration in the Kate Marmion School of Public Health, University of Texas at San Antonio and Associate Director for Population Science at the Mays Cancer Center, UT Health Science Center San Antonio. Dr. Halpern’s expertise is in health services research, data science, and health policy assessment. He collaborates with clinicians, researchers, and community members to evaluate challenges to receiving high-quality care, develop interventions and policies to address these challenges, and assess the value of care. Dr. Halpern received his MD and PhD through the University of Michigan’s Medical Scientist Training Program; he also received an MPH in Epidemiology at the University of Michigan. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
