“Improving health requires developing a system that keeps people and communities healthy in the first place. This is why community prevention efforts are so critical to the success of health reform overall,” explains Larry Cohen, Prevention Institute’s executive director. “A plan that places emphasis on the public will provide a greater investment in communities, as well as keep people as healthy as possible. And because it will be more cost effective, it will result in more resources being made available for prevention efforts in those communities.” America’s current beleaguered health care system exhausts roughly one-sixth of the gross domestic product and leaves businesses crippled by skyrocketing health insurance costs. Yet, it still fails to provide care to millions of Americans and does little to address widespread national epidemics like chronic disease, obesity and diabetes. A recent report by Prevention Institute, in conjunction with Trust for America’s Health and the Urban Institute, shows that community prevention saves money in the short run and even more in the long run, resulting in billions of dollars in savings for taxpayers over the next five years.
Prevention Institute is a non-profit national center dedicated to improving community health and well-being, and is recognized as the nation’s leading expert on prevention.