Preventive health care is the provision of preventive services with the aim of identifying probable health risks and chronic ailments while at the onset phase. The basic preventive services include prescriptions, physical exams, screening, immunizations, and lab tests. The Affordable Care Act has standards which help gauge if individuals and their families qualify for free preventive services. This subject has become a subject of great debate especially following the ongoing presidential campaigns. The aspirants, particularly Hillary Clinton, are determined to reduce the escalating health costs through preventive health care (Cohen, Neumann, & Weinstein, 2008). According to researchers, preventive and primary care services have been noted to cut the cost of health care significantly.
Young, Saunders, and Oslen state that there are three categories of prevention health care services. The primary prevention docket involves regulating modifiable risk factors to reduce the risk of a disease occurring. Secondary prevention entails “early detection of disease before it manifests clinical symptoms” (Yong et. al, 2010). Tertiary prevention is defined as the management of existing medical conditions to avert possible complications. Prevention can be offered in population-based or clinical settings. In the community-based settings, prevention tends to have a greater effect. It can be done through periodic examinations, imaging studies, and blood tests.
According to Cohen and his colleagues (2008), there is evidence indicating that prevention health care can be used to improve the quality of health and reduce the financial weight of health care. For instance, statistics indicate that nearly 40% of the overall annual deaths in the United States rise from preventable causes such as physical inactivity, poor dieting, and tobacco smoking. The United States Preventive Services Task Force has developed preventive measures which include advising the public on healthy life styles, giving influenza vaccination, and screening persons for colorectal cancer (Cohen, Neumann, & Weinstein, 2008). The implementation of these measures has proven to cut down health care costs as well as the rate of mortality.
While most researchers claim that preventive health care is bound to reduce the expenditure on health, others argue that this is not entirely true. Currently, 18% of the gross domestic product is spent on health care. 72% of this is then spent on treating preventable conditions such as heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. According to the Director of Trust for America’s Health, it is estimated that the cost of health care will reduce considerably if America moves “from sick care to health care” (Begley, 2013). In 2010, a certain study claimed that contemporary health care costs would be 0.2% if 90% of the American population opted for preventive services. It may be true that some preventive services will reduce the cost of care. For instance, disease prevention programs such as adult and childhood immunizations are more cost efficient compared to treatment. Vaccines are relatively affordable. Given that a considerable population is prone to getting vaccine-preventable illnesses, the overall cost saved is significant (Begley, 2013).
According to most health economists, preventive health care is likely to slightly reduce the cost or may not reduce the cost at all. For instance, cancer screening has no health benefits for the population. In fact, the U.S Preventive Services Task Force highly discourages the extensive use of the PSA tests. The cost incurred in this case will remain constant. Secondly, the American population is large. Ensuring that people undergo one preventive service with the goal of reducing their vulnerability to a single illness does not guarantee reduced costs (Begley, 2013). Most people tend to overlook the fact that the preventive measures to be implemented also run on funds. T is bound to be more expensive when the target population is as large as that of the United States. Fact is that not all people will gain from such services.
However, I believe that arguing on the basis of cost is not the right way to gauge preventive health care. Is the cost more important than the benefits that may come with the services? Most of the ongoing debates in the country are based on cutting the cost of health care. Young, Saunders, and Oslen argue that the country should realize that any approach in the medical world will always incur a cost. What should be the core element is the value created by that approach. The treatment and diagnostic options available are not conditioned on costs saving (Yong et. al, 2010). Still, we cannot deny that the prevailing economic status increase the pressure on medical expenditure.
The medical system in the country ought to pay more attention to the value created by the available approaches. Some people are convinced that preventive measures such as counseling, screening, and immunizations are merely windfall. There is the need to balance between the costs and benefits. However, preventive measures can help avert suffering and pain among the American population. Diseases such as Type 2 diabetes can be prevented. In addition, the costs directed in treating chronic conditions like heart diseases will deviate as such conditions can be prevented and managed through preventive measures.
References
Begley, S. (2013). Think preventive medicine will save money? Think again. Reuters. Retrieved 21 August 2016, from http://www.reuters.com/article/us-preventive-economics-idUSBRE90S05M20130129
Cohen, J., Neumann, P. & Weinstein, M. (2008). Does Preventive Care Save Money? Health Economics and the Presidential Candidates. New England Journal of Medicine, 358(7), 661-663. http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/nejmp0708558
Yong, P. L., Saunders, R. S. Olsen, L. A., Institute of Medicine (U.S.). & National Academies Press (U.S.). (2010). The healthcare imperative: Lowering costs and improving outcomes: workshop series summary. Washington, D.C: National Academies Press.
