¶ … Care of Prevention
Preventive care is something of a buzzword in contemporary health care issues, particularly in the United States. There are a number of different parties that are propagating the notion to the American people that simply by focusing more on preventative measures, it is possible to achieve two things: lower spending on health care and achieving a more salutary population. Although such statements may resonate with voters when it is time for elections, a number of these claims are not necessarily corroborated by evidence-based measures, which reveal a more complicated situation.
When examining this issue which has been widely convoluted by conventional media outlets, it is important to define the term preventive care. Quite simply, preventive care is that which focuses on wellness and takes active measures to ensure that illness or physical maladies do not occur. It also involves measures to detect any sort of health issues as early as possible in order to treat them before they become more serious problems that require additional treatment and spending. Examples of this latter aspect of preventive measures include screenings for certain diseases and conditions. Other examples of preventive care include counseling and administering proper eating and exercise habits. Going for yearly physicals and engaging in blood...
Interventions regarding
tobacco use have proved particularly effective (Maciosek et al., 2006, p. 52).
In seeking to assess whether or not preventive care actually saves
money in the health care sector it is important to realize that there are instances in which preventive care both can and cannot accomplish this objective. Firstly, there are a number of different preventive care measures which widely influences the amount of money spent on such care and that which is ultimately saved. Moreover, when analyzing this aspect of preventive care one must
contrast any cost saving benefits it brings with those from utilizing curative measures. An article that contains a literary review of
empirical evidence for the efficacy of both preventive measures and conventional treatment options finds that "the distribution of cost-effectiveness ratios for preventive measures and treatments are very similar -- in other words, opportunities for efficient investment in health care programs are roughly equal for prevention and treatment" (Cohen et al., 2008). The crux of the matter is the fact that in some instances such measures can save money, yet in others they do not. Instances in which preventive measures can certainly save money include preventing the use of tobacco products. Preventive measures can be extremely cost effective such as a
parent or even an individual simply asserting that he or she will not use these products -- which can save considerable costs in maladies associated with these products including terminal ones. However, preventive measures will not save money in…
