The Case for Commons Health Care

Philippines also eliminating the sale of medical equipment containing mercury. Increasingly, U.S. healthcare facilities are being designed with the ecological health impacts to individuals, communities, and the planet in mind. This work has been extremely important in shifting healthcare operations toward more environmentally preferable purchasing practices, which has then resulted in a variety of changes in the supply chain. In fact, it is important to emphasize that the greening of healthcare has played an important role in deepening an understanding of the relationship between human health and the environment. Additionally, the immediacy of environmental and climate problems—note stark warnings from the UN Millennium Assessment and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—has helped to expand the focus of healthcare/environmental issues from product toxicity, waste reduction, and green design to climate mitigation and adaptation as well. Yet, these changes have only resulted in limited transformation in funding practices, reimbursement policies, and healthcaredriven primary prevention strategies. In fact, the business of healthcare has for the most part continued “business as usual.” For example, the healthcare’s climate