Claiming preventive care ‘saves money’
During his address to Congress about health care, President Obama claimed that forcing insurance companies to cover preventive care will save money. The truth is much different.
Here’s what Obama said:
And insurance companies will be required to cover, with no extra charge, routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies — (applause) — because there’s no reason we shouldn’t be catching diseases like breast cancer and colon cancer before they get worse. That makes sense, it saves money, and it saves lives.
The overwhelming view from the Congressional Budget Office to doctors is that covering preventive care for everyone will cost more than not.
In August the CBO director wrote in a letter to Congress:
The evidence suggests that for most preventive services, expanded utilization leads to higher, not lower, medical spending overall
What’s more, the New England Journal of Medicine wrote in February 2008:
Sweeping statements about the cost-saving potential of prevention … are overreaching. Studies have concluded that preventing illness can in some cases save money but in other cases can add to health care costs.
Of course, finding a cancer early on does save money for the individual patient — but not everyone gets cancer. Paying for preventive medical procedures for everyone will, overall, cost more.
But hey, at least the president figured out the difference between a colon and a prostate.
Sources:
The White House, Sept. 9, 2009
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT TO A JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS ON HEALTH CARE
PolitiFact, Sept. 9, 2009
Obama says preventive care saves money. It doesn’t.
Congressional Budget Office, Aug. 7, 2009
Letter to Rep. Nathan Deal (PDF)
New England Journal of Medicine, Feb. 14, 2008
Does Preventive Care Save Money? Health Economics and the Presidential Candidates (PDF)
