Prevention Matters

Providing universal health care won't be nearly enough to truly reform the American health system, says the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a recent column in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Dr. Julie Gerberding says universal access to quality health care services "would address no more than 25 percent of the gap between our current health status and that of the world’s healthiest nations."

"Health doesn’t only happen in the doctor’s office or the hospital bed," Gerberding wrote in an op-ed piece.

"We have to promote changes and policies that build health opportunities into everyday life — walkable streets, nutritious school lunches, health education and fitness programs for all students, smoking cessation programs and easy access to parks and gyms," she said. "Transportation, housing, agriculture, environment and education legislation abounds with opportunities to leverage better health — at an investment price that brings far better value than dollars spent treating chronic diseases once they occur."