America's Critical Infrastructures

The 16 critical infrastructures in America are food and agriculture sector, healthcare and public health sector, finance sector, commerce, information technology sector, energy, nuclear reactors, materials, and waste sector, chemical sector, telecommunications, government facilities sector, critical manufacturing, water storage, defense, emergency services sector, identification of critical infrastructure during disease outbreaks, sector-specific agencies, transportation and water and wastewater systems sector (Gheorghe et al., 2018). The infrastructure chosen for discussion is healthcare and public health. The Department of Health and Human Services is the agency responsible for healthcare and public health in (DeSalvo et al., 2017). The Department of Health and Human Services is the lead agency because of having the mandate from the government. Healthcare is a government-led infrastructure. This implies that U.S federal, state and county governments dictate the healthcare policies that Americans get. As a result, the healthcare system involves federal, state and local healthcare agencies and healthcare facilities. Moreover, the non-governmental agencies, volunteers, and voluntary organizations fall under the Department of Health and Human Services directive. The Department of Health and Human Services is identified as the lead agency because of the mandate of coming up with and implementing appropriate healthcare policies (DeSalvo et al., 2017). Department of Health and Human Services is the link between the government, Americans and the private sector.

I feel that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are another government agency should be included in the promotion, maintenance and preservation of healthcare. Richards et al. (2017) indicate that the CDC protects and saves Americans from health threats. The CDC protects Americans from health threats by conducting health-related research and providing information on protecting the nation. Therefore, the CDC works as a preventive health agency that ensures healthcare threats do not become dangerous and expensive to contain. The CDC's mandate of preventive health dictates safeguarding Americans health. For instance, the CDC plays a critical role in providing guidelines to follow in limiting the spread of communicable diseases. The mandate of offering preventive healthcare guidelines makes the CDC a government-led authority in preventive health. As a result, the American public adheres to the guidelines set by the CDC as preventive measures against health threats (Richards et al., 2017). The CDC is one of the most trusted agencies providing preventive measures. Furthermore, the CDC is an advisory agency for the government and private sector in preventive health.

One of the public and private sector companies that work with the Department of Health is Pfizer Inc. Pfizer Inc. is an American multinational biotechnology and pharmaceutical company instrumental in applying science and global resources to provide therapeutic care to people (Pfizer Inc., 2021). Pfizer works with the Department of Health to provide therapies that improve health. Pfizer's liaison with the Department of Health is applying innovation to come up with medicine and vaccines. Another company that works with the Department of Health is UnitedHealthcare. UnitedHealthcare is one of the major private healthcare insurers in the U.S (Holahan et al., 2020). As a result, UnitedHealthcare works with the Department of Health in reducing the cost of health for Americans. UnitedHealthcare has the largest market share in providing health insurance to Americans. UnitedHealthcare was one of the major beneficiaries of the Affordable Care Act during the Obama administration.