Health Care Trends

With the passage of the Affordable Care Act the personal health of every American has become an important issue. While most health care funds are spent treating diseases and other health problems, there has recently been a push toward focusing on prevention of health problems. For example, "chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes are now responsible for more than 75% of health care costs." (Berman, 201, p.328) But as these health problems are almost entirely preventable a focus on prevention could save a great deal of money that would be better spent elsewhere. Therefore many Americans are beginning to endorse policies that prevent health problems before they start. Some of these ideas involve incentives to reward people for healthy behavior while others involve penalties to punish those who do not. However, research indicates that punishments are not as effective as incentives when it...
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