Recently, 115 Democratic members of Congress wrote a compelling letter to the House leadership, calling for an end to a longstanding de facto ban on federal funding for research into a health problem they called a pressing epidemic.

I have written previously about how that lack of funding weakens our efforts to make communities healthier. But now I want to cast the problem in an allegorical framework that illustrates some of the challenges we face in dealing with a disease that could be prevented, were it not for cultural and political entanglements.

As we celebrate the contributions of our military service members this Veterans Day, many of us are heartened by the recent drawdown of troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. More than 2.7 million men and women have served in those conflicts to date, many of them on multiple tours.

But our collective relief should not obscure the reality that many of our service members have come home with significant challenges, especially in mental health. We are, in fact, entering a phase in which our returning troops will need attention to their health more than ever, as they face the long-term consequences of war.

"Unhealthy Lifestyle Main Cause of Heart Disease."

"Reduce Cancer Chances by Making Lifestyle Choices."

"Unhealthy Lifestyle Can Knock 23 Years off Lifespan."

These are just a few recent headlines in our daily diet of health news, which makes liberal use of the word "lifestyle," a media-friendly hook for popularizing health risks that tips our lens of focus to the individual.

There have been 45 school shootings in America this year alone. Mass shootings have been occurring with regularity in the US for years now. More than 32,000 people die from firearms every year, as many as die from car accidents. This is clearly a public health issue, and one with a solution – the control of widespread gun availability.

The mass shooting Thursday at Umpqua Community College in Oregon is heartbreaking—especially for the students and families directly affected. But it is tragic in a different way for those of us in public health who have followed the trajectory of gun violence in the U.S. and tried to sound a call for change.

Firearm deaths are a preventable epidemic.

There is no other cause of death that we know how to prevent so readily—and that, time and time again, we do nothing about.

Early last summer, seeking to combat an unprecedented crisis of opioid abuse, Gov. Charlie Baker asked the Legislature for $28 million in extra state spending on treatment and prevention. That initiative is the latest example of Massachusetts’ progressive approach to tackling public health issues. I propose that the state — with that same laser focus and commitment — undertake 10 additional reforms that would dramatically improve our residents’ public health.

Ambitious programs to improve the U.S. health care system typically include improving population health in their objectives. For example, that is one of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s “Triple Aims” (along with improving the patient experience and lowering the per capita cost of care). Similarly, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is designed to improve population health in multiple ways, the most obvious being improved access to care. But the ACA also aims to improve the quality of care, enhance prevention, and promote health through the implementation of affordable care organizations (ACOs) and the establishment of a new Prevention and Public Health Fund.