The Politics of Prevention

Are you joking Newweek? I can't be sure, but thanks for a misleading title that the Insurance industry is sure to love. Everyone knows that screening can't always prevent some diseases, and once the disease strikes, it can be more expensive than the cost of preventive visits. Was that your whole point, to arrive at which, you had to have a discussion with experts? You actually get paid to state the obvious? Can I get that gig?

What about *overall* cost per year? If your experts mentioned this the discussion, you seem to have omitted that section. If everyone had access to regular medical checkups, as is the case in most other western nations, would it reduce overall healthcare cost to the tax payer? Would it reduce emergency-room visists, which are more expensive than a doctor's appointment? What it doctors are trained in and given incentives to reduce unhealthy behaviors in patients, as they do in England? Would that reduce the number of smokers? British doctors think so. Are they full of it? Now reading about those questions may be worthwhile. Please don't waste your time on drivel.

The United States is 23rd out of the 23 Industrialized nations in the world in infant mortality rates. The reason the lack of pre-natal care for those who can not afford the insurance with our for profit health care system. On average a premature baby costs a hospital $55,000.00. In some cases the cost can go as hig as $1.5 million. Newsweek does the nation a great dis-service when it publishes such publishes such crap without doing reasonable research.

The United States is 23rd out of the 23 industialized nations it in the world for infant mortality rate. The main reason, the lack of Pre natal care for those who are not insured in our for profit health care system. The average cost of a premature baby in a hoppital is $55,000.00. In some cases the cost can be 1.5 million. Newsweek should do a better job of investigative reporting before publishing a couple of hacks cherry picked arguments

What a heartless analysis: "If they work and people live longer, you prevent illness in the near term, but you extend life in the distant decades when people are older and their care is costly."???!! According to the authors, the best health plan would be for people to die young, so that society doesn't need to spend so much money taking care of old people. So rather than prevent disease, they'd propose just having us all drop dead.