Prevention Matters

Insurers are talking up a proposal backed by Partnership for Prevention that was successfully added to the House version of the health reform bill. Gannett's Maureen Groppe cited the amendment, sponsored by Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif., in a story about "a move by Democrats to replace references to “health-care reform” with references to “health-insurance reform.”

"Dallas Salisbury, head of the Employee Benefit Research Institute, said a proposal to eliminate copays for preventive and wellness care could have the biggest impact on individual behavior," Groppe writes.

“'Employers and insurers that have experimented with this, at the point that they eliminate those copays, they do get dramatic increases in the number of employees that use the services,' Salisbury said.

"The Partnership for Prevention estimates that only 67 percent of women 40 and older get screened for breast cancer. An additional 3,700 lives could be saved each year if 90 percent did, according to the organization, which wants Congress to remove deductibles and copays for preventive services.

“'The main purpose of cost-sharing is to discourage the use of medical services,' said Robert J. Gould, the group’s president. 'But clinical preventive services are currently underutilized.'"