Prevention Matters

The Business Roundtable report that compared U.S. health care expenditures and benefits with those of other countries concluded with a couple of recommendations worth noting.

The report recommended “engaging all Americans in taking an active role in their health care. First, this means placing an obligation on all Americans to obtain health insurance either through their employer or the private market. Second, we must encourage all Americans to participate in employer- or community-based prevention, wellness and chronic care programs.”

These happen to be two of the Healthy Workforce 2010 recommendations that are included in Healthy Workforce 2010: The Essential Health Promotion Sourcebook for Employers, Large and Small published by Partnership for Prevention published in 2001.

A new report from the Business Roundtable, which represents CEOs of major companies, says America's health care system has become a liability in a global economy. The report says Americans in 2006 spent $1,928 per capita on health care, at least two-and-a-half times more per person than any other advanced country.

The report added a new wrinkle by taking those those costs and factoring benefits into the equation. It compares statistics on life expectancy, death rates and even cholesterol readings and blood pressures. The health measures are factored together with costs into a 100-point "value" scale. That hasn't been done before, the authors said.

The results - the United States is 23 points behind five leading economic competitors: Canada, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom and France. The five nations cover all their citizens, and though their systems differ, in each country the government plays a much larger role than in the U.S.
The cost-benefit disparity is even wider — 46 points — when the U.S. is compared with emerging competitors: China, Brazil and India.