Preventive Practice

The Practice of Preventive medicine is often seen to be impractical due to its extremely high cost, which is then reported to be in the ten of thousands of dollars per quality adjusted life-year (QALY) gained. In retrospect, data from studies funded by industry interventions show that the median threshold for effectiveness is set at $32,678 per year of life gained, “ a value that in itself would cause little controversy” (1). However, some statistical reports seem to exceed this median, for example a $50,000 per QALY gained for antiretroviral therapy and it seems to be considered as effective. Therefore, the article seems to agree to the fact that most decision makers in the United States “will conclude that interventions that cost less than …show more content…
However, preventive practices do not improve the overall health of healthy individuals, it does help reduce the amount of people who contract certain diseases/illnesses. Therefore, preventive practices seem to find and treat the issues relatively early, rather than waiting for the symptoms to appear before seeking medical assistance. If we take a look at Japan as a model for preventive care, we can truly see how effective preventive care is in the real world. The Japanese support a system of preventive practices that allows the elderly population of Japan to be the healthiest and wealthiest portion of the Japanese population. These practices allow the population the ability to schedule timely visits and avoid the contraction and spread of diseases. Therefore, Japan only spends about $3,389 per capita, compare to the United States spending relatively $8,504 per capita. Also Japan has a population of 28 million individuals who are over the age of 65 (20% of Population) (4). The Japanese follow a “comprehensive system of screening, tracking, and follow-up” (4). The Japanese Population is given reminders to be screened by health professionals annually, as well as, employers requiring employees to be screened as mandated by the Japanese Government. In retrospect, Japan is globally ranked the 3rd …show more content…
For Example, African Americans are four times more likely to experience kidney failure than their white counterparts. Also, Parkinson’s Disease is more common in white males and females than any other group in the United States (6). Indians are 30 percent more likely to develop high blood pressure and diabetes than African Americans. As seen by the statistics mentioned above, it is more effective to spend taxpayer money on preventive care and on the ethnic groups that are more prone to the risk of contracting the illnesses. Such a tactic could help make preventive health care more reliable economically and effectively reduce the contraction of diseases and its related