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An Ounce of Prevention

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  • Joseph P. Newhouse

Abstract

I look at prevention through an economic lens and make three main points. First, those advocating preventive measures are often asked how much money a given measure saves. This question is misguided. Rather preventive measures can be thought of as insurance, with a certain cost in the present that may or may not pay off in the future. In fact, although most medical preventive measures improve expected health, they do not save money. Various lifestyle and early childhood interventions, however, may both save money and improve health. Second, preventive measures, including medical and lifestyle measures, are heterogeneous in their value, both across measures and, within measure, across individuals. As a result, generalizations in everyday discourse about the value of prevention can be overly broad. Third, health insurance coverage for medical preventive measures should generally be more extensive than coverage for the treatment of a medical condition, though full coverage of preventive services is not necessarily optimal.

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  • Joseph P. Newhouse, 2020. "An Ounce of Prevention," NBER Working Papers 27553, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27553
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    2. Dugord, Clara & Franc, Carine, 2022. "Trajectories and individual determinants of regular cancer screening use over a long period based on data from the French E3N cohort," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    3. Richard Peter, 2024. "The economics of self-protection," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 49(1), pages 6-35, March.
    4. Herrera-Almanza, Catalina & Rosales-Rueda, Maria F., 2023. "Community-based health programs and child vaccinations: Evidence from Madagascar," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    5. Brammli-Greenberg, Shuli & Hovav, Boaz, 2024. "Unmet needs and the effect of healthcare system generosity on prevention activity – A multilevel analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    6. Han Bleichrodt, 2022. "The prevention puzzle," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 47(2), pages 277-297, September.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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