As Congress considers health reform, it is crucial that prevention of disease receive as much attention as treatment. We know that prevention can save lives and lower health care costs, and since one out of every six tax dollars is spent on health care, a proactive approach that puts prevention first is long overdue.
Consider tobacco. Each year, tobacco use is responsible for more than 400,000 deaths and nearly $100 billion in health care costs. In New Jersey alone, we lose 11,200 of our loved ones to preventable tobaccorelated disease each year. However, when smokers quit, their health begins to improve almost immediately; within one year, their excess risk of heart disease is cut in half. Cessation services have been shown to be one of the most cost-effective prevention services available.
The bills now before the U.S. House and Senate have strong prevention provisions in them such as requiring coverage of smoking cessation in public and private insurance plans and funding for community-based programs that focus on disease prevention. We must make sure that these important provisions do not end up on the chopping block.
It is time to put prevention first. Doing so will save lives, reduce suffering and save American taxpayers billions of dollars in future tobacco-related health care costs.
Mary Stabile
Milltown
Volunteer
Board of Directors of the Mid Atlantic
Deborah P. Brown
Vice President
Community Outreach and Advocacy
American Lung Association
Camp Hill, Pa.