Preventative healthcare: why is it such an afterthought?

I’m honestly not sure how many people in this country actually get the reality behind that old cliché, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." To me, it feels like preventative healthcare in the States is basically a joke, which—if you think about it—is just a direct ticket to skyrocketing medical costs down the road.👎

brightmarlin44, you working with Štampar?

brightmarlin44 said:I feel like preventative healthcare is basically non-existent right now—which, honestly, just means we're going to end up spending way more on medical bills down the road.👎

Preventative care is really just about raising awareness—and honestly, that’s a whole lot cheaper than all those pricey medications the healthcare system spends everyone's tax dollars on.

It’ll eventually be like it is over here in the States—you pay for what you get, so you should have the right to spend it. That way, we won't have those people who just don't care about anything—they just keep eating everything in sight—and then deal with all the health issues and weight gain that come from it. Once that happens, people who actually take care of themselves and invest in their health won't be stuck footing the bill for everyone else's negligence. In America, being unhealthy is basically treated like a luxury—so everyone starts weighing the costs pretty early on.

It’s honestly pretty sad to see our healthcare system struggling to fund life-saving emergency interventions—which, let's face it, means people aren't getting the help they need when it matters most—while at the same time, money seems to be tossed away on a mountain of "unnecessary" medications. I say "unnecessary" because if we just paid a little more attention to our own habits, we could probably prevent about 70% of these health issues from happening in the first place—meaning we wouldn't need those heavy-duty drugs that mostly just mask the symptoms rather than fixing the actual root cause—and ultimately, we'd save a ton of money.

I heard that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has already kicked off an awareness campaign—they've actually printed millions of brochures about why prevention matters and the fallout you face if you skip it. Doctors are getting extra training too, learning more about the link between diet and wellness so they can actually offer some solid advice later on. You see these kinds of initiatives all over Europe... but here, it feels like the only focus is scrambling to fund enough medication—it's like nobody is even looking in that direction.

Even the most casual observers are starting to chirp about the link between diet and wellness—how much our daily habits actually shape our quality of life. It’s funny, really—but if I recall correctly, there isn't even a dedicated course covering this at medical school yet. Correct me if I'm wrong on that one.

So, like, about 60% of the population here is overweight, and then you’ve got people who are just... extremely obese...
I guess on average, folks out West don't really prioritize prevention all that much.

But hey, it really depends on what you actually mean by saying 70% of health issues are preventable.

So then, when they find out their cholesterol is through the roof, they just get handed some Dow Chemical pills and nobody even mentions changing their diet.😲 And don't even get me started on the smokers.😠 If health insurance actually functioned like car insurance, people would be paying massive surcharges just to get covered. Right now, it’s like someone who’s never even dented a bumper gets the exact same rate as the maniac who rear-ends a minivan every other week. When you're talking about cars, the insurance companies know exactly how to price risk. But when it comes to health? It feels like the only people getting specialized coverage are the guys signed up for the UFC.👎

Maintenance efforts tend to be minimal because preventative measures carry a heavy price tag, yet the immediate payoff is notoriously difficult to quantify. In other words, it’s an incredibly hard sell when you're trying to justify the expense.

brightmarlin44, I asked you something earlier and you totally ghosted me...

I mean, I don't even know how someone with high triglycerides doesn't just get put on some kind of diet immediately...

They keep telling him he needs to drop some weight, but nobody’s actually holding him accountable. He just gets handed a dose of Dow Chemical and then—poof—next time, he's gone.👍
Am I hanging out with Pasteur here?🤣 Guess I'm worth a little more than I thought.😁

Look, that doctor is clearly incompetent, but that’s not even about their clinical experience... regardless, they should've at least handed him a diet plan that actually means something. I used to work over at Dow Chemical, so I know how this stuff works

Besides, triglycerides and cholesterol have absolutely nothing to do with Dow Chemical... you're getting your wires crossed here.

Kyle Nelson2 said:well, it really depends on what you mean by "70% of health issues"

Here, this.

melloweagle11 said:Not much gets done because prevention is expensive—plus, it’s hard to put a price tag on a benefit you can barely quantify. Basically, it's tough to justify the cost.

Wait, who exactly is charging whom here? 😕

If there's actually money in the healthcare system, I'd argue that total spending on things like medication would drop if we just invested more upfront in prevention—you know, education and all that.

People who ignore basic health guidelines—smokers, heavy drinkers, etc.—really should be footing a higher bill. It’s almost too easy to just act reckless or indifferent, isn't it? 😉

melloweagle11 said:Work is minimal because prevention isn't cheap, and you can't easily quantify the direct benefits. In other words, it’s hard to bill for it.

Unfortunately, that's the reality. It shouldn't be, though.

Everyone knows this guy—he loves to eat and drink like there’s no tomorrow. People have been breathing down his neck for years, telling him he needs to get his act together, but he just wouldn't listen. Now, after a year of struggling to even walk because his heart is giving out, he’s being rushed into emergency bypass surgery. Suddenly, after all that neglect, he’s actually worried about his diet. What can you even say at this point? Where is the sense of responsibility toward oneself, toward one's kids, or toward the community?

brightmarlin44 said:Am I with Pasteur?🤣 I guess I have some value after all.😁

Your topics are so Pasteurian—especially that whole "negative careerism" provocation, and now this pivot to preventative health. At first, I thought you were some guy focused on medical ethics, maybe using the forum to gather ideas for a research paper. After this post, though, I'm not even sure what you are anymore... I'm guessing you aren't a doctor—no actual MD would frame topics like this—but you clearly have some tie to the medical field... otherwise, who else would be thinking about prevention?
Why is it so funny to you that I assumed you were from Pasteur?

So, those folks over at Pasteur are basically just burning through cash without doing anything remotely useful when it comes to prevention. It looks like they're actually busy, but their version of "working" is stuck in some outdated mindset from fifty years ago. For what it's worth, I'm a doctor—I actually used to run two different clinics back in the day—but these days my life is much more centered on the science side of things. Actually, even more than that, I spend my time teaching the next generation. :-))
There, happy now?

Look, I’m with you on the benefits of prevention, but there’s a glaring reason why it isn't happening. It's nearly impossible to quantify how much good prevention actually does. Historically, American medicine hasn't focused much on staying healthy; it's always been about fixing what's already broken. Most doctors aren't even trained to prioritize prevention, and frankly, they don't have much incentive to bother with it. Take a dentist, for example. From a purely business standpoint, it’s much more profitable when a patient walks in with cavities so they can sell them fillings, bridges, crowns, or full prosthetics, rather than just giving some advice that prevents the decay from happening in the first place and walking away with zero revenue.

The ideal customer is someone who keeps coming back. You treat a symptom, and then they return once the issue resurfaces. If we actually implemented high-quality preventative care, the entire healthcare system would need a massive structural overhaul to make it work. While achieving that would be an incredibly positive and valuable goal for our society, I honestly doubt we'll see it happen anytime soon.

Justin Fox said:Look at it this way: a dentist makes way more money selling fillings, bridges, crowns, and prosthetics to someone with cavities than they ever would by just giving preventative advice and walking away with nothing.

Sure, if you're running a private practice. 😁

Did they seriously only pay doctors in ancient Egypt as long as they remained healthy? 👍 😁

Regardless, I’m with melloweagle11 on this one. In a society driven entirely by profit, profit, and more profit, a different approach isn't even an option, is it? 😢

Heh, logic doesn't quite hold up when you consider that private dentists have zero incentive to fix things perfectly if they can just charge you again when the symptoms inevitably resurface. That kind of math only works for providers who get paid per procedure.

Of course, I’m not suggesting we go to extremes, but my point is that medical history has often been built on making big, dramatic gestures. You cut, you cauterize, you put a cast on a leg—it creates this illusion of significant intervention, and that's what people pay for. You can't exactly bill someone for advising them to avoid drinking ice water, but you can certainly send a hefty invoice for an tonsillectomy.