Prevention Vs. Over Utilization

In an attempt to cut the cost of health care, some people including the President are pushing for more preventative measures to hopefully catch a disease before expensive treatments are needed. President Obama wants insurance companies to cover routine checkups and screening tests such as mammograms and colonoscopies. “That makes sense, it saves live, and it will also save money over the long run,” said Obama. While these savings and benefits seem clear, it will be very hard to determine how much these preventative measures will cut costs, if any. Lawrence Summers, Obama's chief economic adviser, said recently that savings from technology, wellness and illness prevention programs are difficult to measure.

This is where the fine line between prevention and over utilization comes into play. While these preventative tests seem like they will cut costs, the reality may be that the cost savings realized from these tests may come into play in more than ten years from now which is outside the government budget window. Also, many experts agree that a large part of our relatively high health care expenses are due to over utilization of expensive test, surgeries, and procedures. Other factors contributing to over utilization of health care can be related to pharmaceutical companies marketing directly to consumers who in turn ask their doctors for the newest treatments

Are we as a nation spending too much in hopes that we will not get sick later in life and if so is that necessarily a bad thing?