A study coming out of the University of California, Berkeley, has indicated that California county public health programs are seeing some big payoffs when it comes to lowering healthcare costs. Depending on the county, for every $1 invested, between $67 and $88 are saved thanks to improved health outcomes.
This program benefits us because of its focus on prevention. Traditionally, health departments do things like monitor restaurants for cleanliness and safety, help with prenatal care, monitor public water supplies, offer public immunizations, and other general activities geared toward improving the health of the population as a whole. Putting a heavier emphasis on other preventative measures may have even more helpful features in the future. This study is just one part of a much larger study, and more information to help determine exactly how this can be more easily done might be revealed as it progresses. One of the biggest areas where they may find benefit is in helping younger people to adopt healthy habits now. By getting more exercise, avoiding smoking, and eating healthier foods, many of the health problems that people face in old age, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, may be reduced drastically. The growing need for senior care that we are seeing may be reduced from the crisis levels that are expected in the future thanks to these measures.
Other forms of public healthcare systems, such as Medicare, place their focus more heavily on treatment. For example, if you look at Medicare investments, for every $1 spent, there is a return of only $1.10 to $4.80. Something like Medicare is obviously very important as it helps to offset the expenses that the elderly and disabled will incur when it comes to their health, but it is far more beneficial to help people before their health problems become major. This goes for both the cost of care, and from a human benefit. It is far better for an individual to avoid being sick than it is to go through being sick and then need to recover.
This study has emphasized the vast importance of public health systems. Even more important, is the necessity of taking preventative measures in order to safeguard the health of the people we love. Seeing an elderly loved one in need of in-home care or an assisted living because of an illness or disability that could have been prevented is not easy. Just ask the countless thousands of people that currently find themselves going through just this. Senior care is something that more than half of people age 65 or older today will need at some point in their lives, but everyone receiving care will certainly tell you that they would rather be healthy instead. If their disability could have been prevented, they would take that opportunity in a heartbeat. For these people, and perhaps for many people reading this, it is too late for preventative measures to help, but that doesn’t mean that millions more cannot benefit. And that’s why the programs described above, and the benefits that they bring, can be so incredibly helpful.
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