For the security of our citizens and the well-being of our society the argument is being made that we should "defund the police" and transition to a public health approach to community safety. For similar reasons, why not do the same for our health care system? The "defund the police" argument goes as follows: With crime continuing to plague our society, the argument concludes that our law enforcement system is beyond reform and should be defunded, reimagined and restructured. Unfortunately, similar arguments are also applicable to our health care system: Midwife-run birth centers, for example, have excellent birth outcomes at lower cost and higher patient satisfaction but are limited by restrictive systems and policies. Advanced practice nurses, community health workers, doulas, nutritionists, social workers, etc., are also systematically underutilized and often actively opposed by the medical establishment, despite solid evidence of their value, especially in underserved communities. Amid all of this, U.S. health outcomes like life expectancy and infant and maternal mortality are abysmal and are now the worst among high-income countries. Seemingly, the more we invest in our health care system, the less healthy we become. Our health care system appears to be beyond reform and should be reimagined and restructured. Yet, unlike efforts to reform policing, no one is publicly advocating to "defund the health care system." Why? Most obvious is that the size and complexity of the health care system makes reforming it a gargantuan task and the failure of previous efforts have dampened people's enthusiasm; not to mention that reform is opposed by powerful vested interests who are financially benefiting from the current system. But the main reason is that we embrace an inaccurate narrative about health and health care. We consider health to be an individual, not a community, responsibility and consider treatment more important than prevention. We fail to recognize that only about 10% of our health is determined by health care and 30% by individual behavior choices while 60% is determined by community factors — social, economic and environmental conditions. And, since most health care services are delivered by private entities, we don't feel empowered to hold health care accountable, despite the fact that about 70% of all health care is paid for with public dollars. We must recognize that health care reform is linked with police reform because both systems help determine the health of a community and both are failing.