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“America's health care system is neither healthy, caring, nor a system.”  - Walter Cronkite

"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhuman." 
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

“America's health care system is in crisis  precisely because we systematically neglect  wellness and prevention.”    - Senator Tom Harkin

The current national interest in health care reform has created an opportunity to reshape government, community, and individual responses to ensure the health of our people and our communities. We can choose policies now that best address the health care crisis confronting us. Prevention has not been embraced by our health care system.

Good health is fundamental to our ability to be economically productive, engaged in our communities, and able to care for and enjoy our families. The value of good health is reflected in the level of resources we spend. The United States has by far the highest per capita expenditures on health in the world, yet we are faced with poor and declining health outcomes and a health care system that is fundamentally broken. A central problem is the consistent focus of attention and resources on illness rather than health. As we work to figure out better ways to finance health care and meet the treatment needs of an aging, more diverse population, we must strive for a leaner, stronger, more efficient system that is focused squarely on maintaining and improving health (not only providing services once illness and injury occur).

Primary prevention has a track record of improving health and reducing costs and has the potential to save more money, suffering, and lives if applied comprehensively and strategically. Health care is not equipped to deal with the rising rates of chronic diseases or able to have a sustained impact at the community level where those conditions, and health, are really shaped. Quality primary prevention is necessary, working in tandem with health care services, to protect the health of the population.

Prevention Institute continues to build the case for incorporating a focus on and investment in prevention as part of health care reform. The Institute maintains a commitment to catalyzing change on a national, state, and local level by offering concrete tools, strategies, and frameworks.