I ran across this mention of a "Healthier US" campaign that was apparently introduced with great fanfare- the fanfare was SO great I missed it- I wonder if it is being supported at all by this administration. I'm going to check, and I'll keep you posted:
Does Preventive Medicine Pay?
Interview with John Clymer
John Clymer, 42, is President of the Washington, D.C.-based Partnership for Prevention, a national organization that advocates effective disease prevention and health promotion. Its members include businesses, non-profit policy and research organizations, health plans and others in the healthcare industry. More information is available at www.prevent.org
How important a role does preventive medicine play in the current U.S. healthcare system?
Clymer: The U.S. has done a good job in terms of incorporating knowledge about preventing disease and injury into its healthcare practices. Immunizations are a shining example. We have dramatically increased childhood immunization rates in this country and have expanded the range of diseases covered by vaccinations. We have reduced the incidence of deadly and debilitating vaccine-preventable diseases to almost nil. Measles still kills over 800,000 people a year worldwide, yet in the U.S. there's hardly a case, much less a death. On the other hand, I think it's morally outrageous that about 20,000 Americans will die of influenza and its complications this year when we have a perfectly good and safe way to prevent it.
How available to the average person are preventive services in the U.S.?
Clymer: Preventive services are widely available to almost all Americans. But there needs to be a joint effort by patients and their healthcare providers to improve the usage rate of preventive services. Keep in mind that our "healthcare system," and I would use that in quotes, is comprised of a variety of delivery and payment modalities that have widely divergent policies and practices when it comes to prevention and when it comes to all services.
Preventive services are held to a different standard in the U.S. than are medical treatments. If a patient needs a bypass, neither the patient nor the insurer will suggest stopping and considering its cost-effectiveness. On the other hand, if someone says we should vaccinate all kids against pneumococcal disease, somebody will ask whether that's cost effective.
Isn't prevention cost effective in the long run?
Clymer: There's a common misperception that prevention should or does always save money. Sometimes it doesn't. But there's a difference between cost saving and cost effective. There are many times when we as a society decide that in order to preserve a high quality of life and keep somebody active and productive and contributing to society, it's worth a certain cost. So we can deem something to be cost effective even if it isn't cost saving.
Who pays when there is a lack of preventive medicine?
Clymer: Everybody does, through the payroll taxes that support the Medicare system. Everybody who pays into the managed care or health insurance system pays. The law of the land is that no one can be denied access to emergency medical treatment in this country, so if you have someone who can't get routine preventive treatment and whose only recourse is to wait until it becomes so bad that they go to the emergency room, those costs are simply going to be shifted and spread across all the people who do pay for services.
Will preventive medicine be a higher priority in the future?
Clymer: The President and his administration launched an initiative called Healthier U.S. with great fanfare and stressed the importance of prevention and health promotion. Now it remains to be seen whether they will back that up with policies that put a higher priority on prevention. I hope they will be true to their word and will do so.
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