Dose of Prevention

The Washington Times ^ | 6/18/03 | John McCaslin

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Dose of prevention

As lawmakers move toward adding a prescription-drug benefit to Medicare, seven former Health and Human Services secretaries want Congress to go one step further. They want Medicare to focus more on keeping people healthy, not just waiting until they become sick before benefits kick in.

The seven former Cabinet members include Donna E. Shalala (President Clinton), Louis Sullivan (the first President Bush), Margaret Heckler, Richard Schweiker and Otis Bowen (President Reagan), Joseph Califano (Jimmy Carter) and David Matthews (President Ford).

A recent Harris poll found that nine in 10 American adults want Medicare to be modernized to put as much emphasis on disease prevention as it does on disease treatment.

The HHS secretaries asked Congress to consider recommendations made in a new report by the nonprofit organization Partnership for Prevention. It recommends that Medicare start covering preventive services, such as cholesterol tests, vision and hearing screening, depression counseling, and stop-smoking efforts.

Such services would save lives and tax dollars, they said.

"It is nearly always preferable, both for the individual and for society, to prevent disease instead of waiting to treat it," the seven said.