Does preventive care save money?
As the saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” When it comes to your health, this saying may be doubly true.
Expenses associated with cardiovascular disease alone are expected to rise to $800 billion a year by 2030, according to the American Heart Association. Early treatment of the risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure, can reduce the costs associated with this condition.
Conditions like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure are largely preventable, and preventative care and early diagnosis may be able to save millions in associated costs. Unfortunately, the HHS estimates that only half of Americans seek preventative care on the recommended schedule and that cost may be an issue. Health insurance can help defray the cost, and some new health coverage plans even offer free preventative services, thanks to the Affordable Care Act.
Individual health insurance may cover such preventative health care as:
• Blood pressure checks
• Cancer screenings
• Cholesterol tests
• Diabetes screenings
• Immunizations
• Mammograms for women over 40
• Pap smears
• Smoking cessation and weight loss programs
• Well-baby and well-child visits
Your primary care physician can identify risk factors at your annual checkup and advise a course of action so that you can work to minimize your risk. You may also benefit from certain preventative treatment procedures to avoid certain early stages of diseases, such as pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome, from devolving into more serious conditions.
Primary prevention through healthy lifestyle choices is the ideal. Many family health insurance plans offer nutrition counseling or smoking cessation programs to help you better manage your health. However, your second step in prevention is early detection. The earlier diseases are detected, the less costly it can be to treat them, and you may even be able to avoid expensive complications that often accompany advanced stages of the diseases.
Source: Health Care Los Angeles
Back to Blog
