Putting the Public into Public Health: Health Policy Related Opinion and Public Policy

Abstract

Understanding how public opinion towards health issues shape policy preferences and confidence in government requires not only understanding why such events engage public sentiments but also why they should matter to lawmakers and health policy experts. In an effort to understand the role of public opinion and emotion in towards health issues I explore three salient issues in health policy. First, using the policy diffusion framework, I explore how public opinion influenced state adoption of provisions of the ACA. Second, I explore how the threat of an outbreak of measles occurring in a community influences attitudes toward mandatory vaccination policies. Finally, I examine how individual anxiety towards Ebola influences confidence in government and policy preferences towards restrictive policies involving Ebola. My findings suggest that public opinion towards health policy issues not only influence state adoption of policy, but also influences individual policy preferences and evaluations of government.