Preventive Healthcare

By: EconomyWatch Content   Date: 23 February 2010

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Preventive healthcare programs are intended to improve access to routine checkups and treatments to postpone the onset of diseases, and ultimately prevent premature deaths. These programs are typically aimed at people below the average lifespan, primarily children and teenagers. However, certain programs, including the federal-backed Medicaid, provide access to preventive healthcare to even individuals in their retirement phase. 

Fundamentals of Preventive Healthcare

 

Prevent healthcare (also called wellness care) is offered in some degree under most healthcare programs. Some programs establish a waiting period and the preventive healthcare benefits start only when this period expires. Also, some cover an extensive list of treatments and procedures, while others reimburse only the cost incurred on routine periodic checkups. Commonly, a preventive healthcare provision covers the following services:

  • Routine physical exams
  • Laboratory services and diagnostic x-rays
  • Immunizations
  • Gynecologic exams
  • Mammography screening
  • PSA test for detecting prostate cancer

Additionally, bear in mind that most insurers put a dollar-limit on their preventive healthcare or wellness programs. Besides, insurers generally setup co-payments on the wellness checkup costs.

Benefits of Preventive Healthcare

Healthcare is widely perceived to be a service aimed at paying for a medical treatment. What most individuals fail to realize is that utilizing a preventive healthcare program will reduce the need for regular healthcare altogether. Preventive healthcare encourages regular checkups with the physician. This not only helps to identify a disease or condition at an early stage and to treat it more effectively, but avoids the large expense associated with a prolonged treatment. This includes eliminating the need to make large co-payments on standard health insurance cover.

Finally, the Government also stands to gain significantly by encouraging preventive healthcare in the nation. The escalating expenditure on healthcare, which exceeded $2.2 trillion in 2007 (Kaiser Family Foundation), is an important source of concern for the Federal Government. This has resulted in an increased number of uninsured in the US, which surpassed over 46 million during the same year, according to the US Census Bureau. Encouraging people to take better care of their health, by improving access to preventive healthcare, will help to curtail the escalating costs of healthcare in the long-run.


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