Prevention Saves? - WSJ Article - Unexpected Limits of New, Free Preventive Care

[Guest guest]

Interesting Wall Street Journal article talking about preventive care and new federal laws - plus whether it saves money in the long run or not.

There is debate on whether it saves money - I'm not saying we shouldn't do prevention - just be willing to pay for it as a society.

 

Unexpected Limits of New, Free Preventive Care

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703396604576087811990834234.html

 

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The debate is whether preventive care saves money, or adds to already-spiraling costs and siphons money from services that might be of greater benefit. The Trust for America's Health, a nonprofit advocacy group, estimates that prevention programs could save the country more than $16 billion annually within five years; researchers at the Commonwealth Fund estimate that reduced tobacco use and a decline in obesity would lower national health expenditures by $474 billion over 10 years.

Other studies, though, have shown that added costs of preventive services tend to exceed savings. A 2008 study in the journal Circulation estimated total cost of caring for heart disease and diabetes over 30 years at $9.5 trillion; while preventive services would reduce those costs by 10% they would cost $8.5 trillion—increasing total medical costs by about $7.6 trillion.

And in the New England Journal of Medicine, a review of hundreds of preventive-care studies showed that fewer than 20% saved money, while the rest added to costs. The Congressional Budget Office concluded in 2009 that expanded government support for preventive medical care would probably improve people's health but wouldn't generally reduce total spending.

" The right question is not whether it saves money, but whether we are getting a good value for the nation's health-care dollar and saving as many lives as we can with each dollar we spend, " says Woolf, professor of family medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University, and past member of the preventive services task force.

Removing financial barriers to preventive services has been shown to increase their use, Dr. Woolf says, " and the spirit behind the law is to remove those barriers, increase the use of preventive services, and reduce the disease burden of the country. "

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Locke, MD