We invested in the war on terrorism at the cost of public health

Elisabeth Rosenthal is editor-in-chief of Kaiser Health News and the author of “An American Sickness: How healthcare became big business and how you can take it back.” Rosenthal began her career as an emergency room doctor, before turning to journalism and becoming a well-known correspondent for The New York Times. As a foreign correspondent, Rosenthal lived through the SARS outbreak in Beijing during the early 2000s. Rosenthal says that our focus on terrorism during the past two decades left us unprepared for the pandemic.

Second Opinion is a video series produced by L.A. Times Studios in conjunction with the L.A. Times newsroom.