There is a concept in public health called "the social determinants of health." Despite what might be the dominant ideology in two out of three branches of government these days, personal choice does not determine everything that happens to us. When it comes to health, there are a variety of things that determine how healthy individuals and communities can be.

This graph from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that the majority of factors in determining premature death are not individual choice:

Social and environmental factors are especially interesting. Our physical location and the characteristics of our social networks play a large part in how healthy we are. This is not a surprising idea. If we live in areas with high levels of pollution, we expect to be less healthy. If people have difficulty affording health food, we expect people to be less healthy. If you do not have quality health insurance coverage, and therefore do not see a physician for preventive care, we expect you will be less healthy.

Here is an overview of several social determinants of health:

Public policy choices in these areas have public health repercussions. This is why I support active government and non-profit interactions in these areas. We simply cannot trust a developer, for instance, to have the public health consequences of their planning choices in mind. Government and non-profit entities need to have a strong voice and strong regulatory powers to ensure that private entities make choices with resources that have public health as a priority.

An example of this is the prevalence of cars and driving. Cars, in many ways, are horrible for public health. Pollution is one thing. Also, people are much more likely to be killed or injured in an accident involving a car than in almost any other situation. Many developers, however, are incentivized to build environments that cater to drivers because ease of access via roads and ample parking can mean higher costumer turnover and more profits. This is not in the interest of public health. Someone needs to have the power to balance business interests and public health. That's the government.