D.C. Is Cutting Health Funding — Who Keeps Us Healthy Now?
Discover the framework reframing U.S. health from 'sick care' to well‑being. In this feature‑length conversation, host Judson Howe sits down with Becky Payne (20 years at CDC; now at The Rippel Foundation) to explore the Vital Conditions for Health & Well‑Being, why Belonging & Civic Muscle sits at the center, and how Shared Stewardship helps leaders bridge divides and shift dollars from perpetual emergencies to prosperity. Inside: what went wrong in COVID communications, what communities can do locally, and what happens when 47 federal agencies row in the same direction.
Episode Summary
As federal health budgets are cut and trust in institutions continues to erode, Becky Payne offers a grounded, practical framework for thinking about what actually keeps communities healthy. She introduces the Vital Conditions for Health & Well-Being — moving far beyond clinical care to include belonging, civic muscle, economic opportunity, and shared stewardship. Becky speaks candidly about what went wrong in COVID-era public health communications, what local leaders can do when federal support disappears, and why 'Shared Stewardship' may be the most underused tool in the public health arsenal.
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About the Guest
Becky Payne
Senior Director, The Rippel Foundation · Former CDC, 20 Years
Becky Payne spent two decades at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, working at the intersection of public health practice and policy. She is now a Senior Director at The Rippel Foundation, where she leads work around the Vital Conditions for Health & Well-Being — a framework that helps communities and systems move upstream from sick care to the social, civic, and environmental conditions that make people well in the first place. Becky is one of the country's clearest thinkers on what it takes for public health to survive political disruption.