Preventive Healthcare Research Papers

Preventive healthcare is particularly important given the global rise in prevalence of preventable behaviour and exposures and leading causes of death including cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, unintentional injuries, diabetes, and certain infectious diseases. Preventive healthcare services include screening, immunization, identifying risk factors for a disease, and discussing tips for a healthy lifestyle. Many preventive services are recommended for elderly individuals. Medicare currently covers 21 different preventive services, including mammograms and pap smears (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS], 2010c). Until recently, these preventive services were subject to different degrees of cost sharing. In some

The proposition that “prevention saves money” leads into highly contested economic territory, not least because the benefits of prevention are often deferred for years and may be politically “invisible” (Russell, 2007). However, this does not explain why the level of investment in prevention activities has been so small. In the 7 years to the 2005–06 financial year, public health expenditure as a percentage of recurrent health spending did not change, remaining a tiny fraction (2.7%–2.8%) of recurrent government health expenditure (AIHW, 2008). This was despite high levels of community support for spending more on prevention and public health ahead of treatment of disease. In the financial year 2005–06, total government spending on public health activities was $1.468 billion. These activities included those seen as primary prevention (immunisation, school-based health promotion programs, education and control activities in relation to substance misuse) and others seen as secondary prevention (cancer screening programs, detection and treatment of sexually transmissible infections) (AIHW, 2008). The federal government provided $797 million (54.3%) of these funds, but was responsible for only $439 million in direct expenditure. The remaining $358 million was provided to the states and territories in the form of Specific Purpose Payments, including $160 million through the Public Health Outcome Funding Agreements. In 2005–06, public health expenditure across Australia was an average of $71.40 per person, ranging from a low of $64.98 in New South Wales to a high of $284.94 in the Northern Territory (AIHW, 2008). Access to healthcare and preventive health