Your last sentence is the best preventive prescription possible. Lose weight, quit smoking, don't drink to excess, exercise and eat right. Bang. Almost 75% of our healthcare spending, virtually gone. Oh, and there's always the unpopular option of actually reaching into your pocket and paying your doctor yourself. Or buying your own meds. Might mean going without cable and a cell phone, but hey, life is all about choices.
I can't disagree with any of that...
I tire of people not taking care of themselves, not seeking and obtaining knowledge that can help their bodies to heal themselves and THEN complaining about the cost of intervention.
Not to mention, Rx drugs are extremely toxic to the body and especially damaging to the immune system, among many other negative side effects.
Prevention, not intervention. But thank the Lord for sub-clinical / intervention measures that are available as a last resort!