This is probably one of the most idiotic, ignorant articles I have ever read

[Horse with no Name]

Bar none. It must have been written by a Libertarian.
http://www.tdtnews.com/story/2009/6/25/58837
>>>>snip
Disease prevention can often cost more than it saves

CHICAGO (AP) - When it comes to health care spending, an ounce of prevention is seldom worth a pound of cure.

Take Mrs. Jones, a hypothetical 55-year-old obese woman at risk for diabetes. It costs $900 a year to hire a personal lifestyle coach to help her lose weight and prevent diabetes. Suppose that the coaching works for Mrs. Jones, and she is spared diabetes and all the resulting health bills.

But research shows that for every person like Mrs. Jones, six other people just like her get nothing out of such a program. They either don’t lose weight or get diabetes anyway or wouldn’t have developed it in the first place. The yearly cost of the prevention program for those six people: $5,400.

That’s probably more than Mrs. Jones’ health bills from diabetes would have amounted to.

[Vickers]

1. "That’s probably more than Mrs. Jones’ health bills from diabetes would have amounted to."

Yeah, because diabetes only lasts a year.

:eyes:

[Aloha Spirit]

9. And never causes complications.... Studies show prevention is much cheaper.

That's why science is so useful... takes the guesswork out of these sorts of things. JEEZ

[G_j]

2. now that is what they call

"tortured logic"



oh, and, hunger motivates children....

[YOY]

3. It presumes that the woman has time/money for a trainer.

Other than that...it is partially true....granted it doesn't stretch things out as reality would. I hate to say it but it's also Kaiser's approach to saving money...preventative medicine. If it's a copout on single-payer/healthcare reform then it's not a perfect model. The hard truth is that there is some stuff you cannot prevent no matter how much "personal accountability".

In the case mentioned though...

Granted there's a shit load of stuff in our food that causes diabetes that wouldn't ordinarily if the FDA didn't green light everything that calls itself sustenance.

Betcha that libertarian wouldn't like that part.

[Horse with no Name]

7. And then there is this

>>>snip
Prevention is a good deal, some experts say, if you can buy one year of perfect health for less than $50,000. The most-recommended prevention efforts - like flu shots for adults, Pap smears for women and colon cancer screening for people over 50 - meet that cutoff. But they certainly don’t save money.

[vadawg]

4. an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, seems prevention is a good idea

[Warpy]

5. He must walk funny with his head so far up his ass!

One emergency room visit will eat up that whole $5400. If one person gets something out of the personal trainer/nutritional consultant, the savings will more than pay for the other 5 who get less out of the program. There will likely be some savings for all of them, even the ones who don't cure their Type II diabetes. Good nutritional counseling will help them avoid those ER visits and most of them will increase their activity, at least short term.

What won't happen is that preventive care will prevent illness and death. Lifestyle changes like quitting smoking, increasing exercise and eliminating foods that are high in fat and salt will delay the onset of genetically programmed disease, but they won't allow people to avoid them entirely.

Cost cutting has gone as far as it can in medicine. It's time to stop focusing on the number of beans in the system and start focusing on the people who come to it for help.

Poorly thought out and totally unresearched articles like this one aren't helping.

[Terran]

6. WTF?

Who hires a personal trainer to help them lose weight? And is the assertion that such a thing would be paid for by public funds? This person is a fool.

[Democracyinkind]

8. I'm interested in this procedure in which someone who HAS diabetes overcomes it by PREVENTING it.

[csziggy]

12. Changes in lifestyle can help someone with diabetes avoid some of the costs and complications

My husband was diagnose with Type 2 diabetes in 2001. He stopped eating fries, potato chips, most fried foods, cut back on sweets, sodas, etc. And he started exercising more, mostly in the context of his current job since he's on his feet and moves large boxes all day. He has never tested over normal glucose levels except when stress tested since the original diagnostic test. That is pretty good for a Type 2 diabetic!

He still has to test regularly and keeps to a good routine, but I am positive that if he had not changed the way he was eating, he would be using insulin and be very sick at this point. We have a friend who did not change his ways and has been hospitalized in a coma several times for his Type 2 diabetes.

My husband's changes did not prevent diabetes, but it sure as hell prevented a lot of the complications from it.

[sharp_stick]

10. How the hell

can the AP get away with writing something like that and not putting a byline on it?

It's an article not an editorial and yet they allow it to go out and spread around unsigned. I'm really sick to death of the AP, they used to be a good source of information but now with all the news outlets laying off any reporter they can find hiding in the copy room all the shit we see is written by some anonymous tool at the AP.

I guess they no longer have any standards.

[Horse with no Name]

11. That was glaring to me as well

It is a biased hit piece AGAINST preventative medicine and it gets allowed to stick like it is news. AP is a rag.

[csziggy]

13. The OP link apparently chose not to print the author's name

Hunting with Google I found the article attributed to CARLA K. JOHNSON:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hBLGTtyQo6MNrKVI94mwrPbftEzQD9917FSO0

She apparently writes on health subjects almost exclusively:
http://labs.daylife.com/journalist/carla_k._johnson

[sharp_stick]

17. Thanks for the hunt

I wonder why the paper decided not to print it?

[Hello_Kitty]

14. This is the whole problem with emphasizing cost savings to sell UHC

What if covering everyone ended up costing more, for whatever reasons? Should we not do it then? Is health care a social good or not? I'm of the opinion that it is and we should do it because it's the right thing to do.

[The Straight Story]

15. That person whould write for the onion, although even they may seem them as too far out there

:)

[Catshrink]

16. ...