Question

Currently much of the US carries private healthcare insurance. Many of these plans focus only on “necessary treatments”. After learning about the determinants of health, do you think there should be legislation requiring insurance plans to cover health promotion and disease prevention (i.e. quitting smoking, weight loss programs in order to prevent illness in the patient’s future)? In other words, should more of the financial focus be on prevention or treatment?

Answer 1

There is a saying that Prevention is better than Cure. More of the financial focus should be on prevention, rather than concentrating only on treatment, in order to have a healthy and happy life for people. Most of the chronic diseases can be detected and cured completely if proper screening tests were done at the initial stage itself when treatment is most effective. Many cardiac disorders can be easily detected if regular health check-up including blood tests, ECG, treadmill test etc. are done routinely. Many cancers are completely curable if detected at the first stage itself.

People can stay healthy or delay the development of diseases if appropriate screening tests are done. In the case of already having a disease, early detection will help to have a better prognosis and also help to treat it without getting worse. Many cancers are difficult to treat if metastases already happened. Through early detection and prevention, people can have a productive life and can reduce the costs of treatments.

Due to financial barriers, many are reluctant to do regular screening tests or to get necessary vaccinations. If there is legislation requiring insurance plans to cover health promotion and disease prevention, people will be open to all the necessary screening tests and vaccinations. Eating healthy, exercising regularly, quitting smoking and attending weight loss programs to reduce obesity and thus prevent diabetes, hypertension etc. are very essential to have a healthy life.

Preventive measures will help people to have a healthy and long life and will reduce the burden of medical expenses. Healthy people are the real asset of a nation. People will be productive and happy if there is no sickness for themselves or to their close relatives and friends. Sickness is having a huge impact on the personal, social and financial aspects of life. So, having legislation for insurance plans to cover health promotion and preventive measures is highly essential. More of the financial focus should be on prevention which will reduce the overall medical expenses and other financial problems occurring due to absence from the job during sickness or loss of a job from severe illness.