What Is Preventive Health and Why Is It Important?

Disease prevention is essential for staying healthy and identifying health problems early, before they cause other problems or become more difficult to treat. Most of us think about going to the doctor when we don’t feel well or need treatment for a condition. Preventive health care (Trusted Source) mentions to the regular care you receive to preserve your health. It’s key to diagnosing illnesses before they become a problem. Preventing serious illnesses before they develop is one of the most important steps you can take to protect your health. Unfortunately, coverage for preventive services is still not as high as we would like. A 2018 study originate that only 8% of U.S. adults age 35 and older received the recommended preventive care.

Table of Contents

What exactly is preventive health?

Preventive health care contains a range of services designed to detect and potentially address health problems before symptoms appear. Preventive health care can support you live a longer, healthier life.
Preventive health care for adults typically includes screening for conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, as well as counseling on smoking cessation and nutrition.
For children, preventive health care includes annual checkups, vaccinations, and screening for conditions such as autism and lead poisoning.
What types of tests, screenings, and facilities are involved in preventive care for adults?
Preventive care for adults includes screenings for chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease, as well as vaccines for serious illnesses like the flu and COVID-19.
It also includes education and counseling to help you adopt a healthy lifestyle that protects your overall health and well-being.
The types of recommended screenings may vary depending on your age and family history. These are the most common preventive screenings for adults:
Breast, colorectal, cervical, and prostate cancer screenings: These screenings are among the most common cancers in men and women, and early detection can prevent their spread or worsening.
Blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes screenings: These screenings can help identify common metabolic disorders that can be treated with medications and lifestyle changes. Without treatment, these can lead to serious illness and premature death. Vaccinations: We generally consider vaccines essential for children, but adults should also get regular vaccinations. Recommended vaccines for adults include the annual flu vaccine, the COVID-19 vaccine, and booster doses of childhood vaccines whose effects have worn off.
Counseling: Preventive counseling can help you manage a chronic condition. It can also help you maintain a healthy lifestyle, quit smoking if you smoke, or get screened for mental health disorders.

What’s considered preventive care for children?

Preventive care helps protect children from some serious illnesses that can affect them and includes screenings for behavioral and medical problems. Preventive care can help children stay healthy both as children and adults.
Preventive care for children is fully covered by most health insurance plans and is always fully covered by the Youngsters’ Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Some types of preventive care offered to children include:
Well-child exams: These exams are performed every few months during infancy and annually thereafter. Well-child exams include measuring your child’s growth and development milestones. Vaccines and routine screenings are also administered during these exams.
Vaccines: Vaccinating your child protects them from serious illnesses now and in the future. Routine childhood vaccinations include polio, hepatitis A and B, DPT (diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis), MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella), and chickenpox. Mental and behavioral health screenings: Pediatricians routinely screen children for conditions such as autism, depression, and developmental delays.
Blood tests: Various blood tests are performed during childhood, including tests to check bilirubin levels in newborns, tests to detect signs of anemia, and tests to quantity the amount of lead in a child’s blood.

Why is it significant to know your family health history when it comes to preventive health?

If a close relative (such as your mother, father, or sibling) has a disease like diabetes, heart disease, or cancer, you are said to have a family history of that disease.
This means that screening for the disease is important and you may need earlier or more extensive testing than someone without a family history.
Learning that a serious disease runs in your family can be daunting and stressful, but knowing is empowering. While you can’t change your genetic risk, you can undergo medical tests that can detect the disease early, allowing for more effective treatment.
Additionally, knowing your family history can help you take steps to reduce your risk of evolving certain diseases. You can proactively adopt a healthy lifestyle that is known to help prevent the development or worsening of these diseases.
If you are unsure about your family history, this may be a good time to discuss it with your close relatives.
If you discover that your family has a history of inherited diseases, tell your doctor at your next checkup. He or she can help you determine which preventive tests might be helpful for you and whether you should be screened for these diseases at an earlier age or more regularly than other people.

What’s the difference between a preventive test and a diagnostic test?

During your visit to your doctor, you may undergo various tests, some preventive and others diagnostic.
Preventive tests are screening tests performed to detect diseases and conditions before symptoms appear. Diagnostic tests are used to obtain more detailed information about your health after symptoms appear.
For example, having a blood test for diabetes when you are not experiencing symptoms is considered a preventive test. However, if you have already been diagnosed with diabetes and are undergoing blood glucose and glycated hemoglobin (A1C) testing, this would be a diagnostic test.

The bottom line

One of the best ways to take care of your health and well-being is to get screened for serious diseases before they develop. This is what preventative health care is all about, and why health experts recommend that all adults and children get regular checkups, screenings, and vaccinations.
Preventive health care offers important health benefits and is covered by most insurance companies. In other words, participating in preventative care is usually free. Plus, if a disease is detected, early treatment will likely save you money on future medical expenses.
If you have questions about preventative care and which screening tests you or your children should get, be sure to talk to your doctor or other healthcare professional.

What is the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program?

The MDPP is designed to help Medicare beneficiaries with symptoms of prediabetes develop healthy habits to prevent type 2 diabetes. The Middles for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) oversees the program at the federal level.
The MDPP has been offered to Medicare-eligible individuals since 2018. It was created in response to the growing number of Americans with diabetes, as this disease is chronic and costly. In 2022 alone, the United States spent approximately $205 billion on diabetes-related health care for people 65 and older, with Medicare covering the majority of those costs.
To help beneficiaries and save money, a pilot program called the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) was created. This program allowed Medicare to invest in diabetes prevention in the hope that this would reduce future treatment costs.
The DPP focused on CDC recommendations for reducing the danger of diabetes in people with prediabetes. Methods included teaching DPP participants to:
change their diet
increase physical activity
adopt overall healthier lifestyles
The program was initially implemented in 10 locations (Trust Source) and later expanded. It helped participants lose weight, reduce their risk of diabetes, and visit the hospital less frequently. It also saved Medicare money on treatment.
The program was expanded to its current version, MDPP, in 2017.

Frequently Asked Questions

What else does Medicare cover for diabetes?

The MDPP is dedicated to diabetes prevention. If you already have diabetes or develop it later, you may be able to get coverage for various medical needs, such as screenings, supplies, eye exams, and more.
If you have Medicare Portion D (prescription drug coverage), you may also be able to get coverage for supplies such as needles and syringes, medications, and insulin.
Any Medicare Advantage plan covers the same services as Part B and may also include some of the services covered by Part D.

Who offers the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program?

An MDPP provider is an organization enrolled in Medicare that may charge a fee for providing MDPP services to eligible beneficiaries. This is usually a hospital or clinic, but the fee may vary by geographic area. You can find providers in your area by searching your ZIP code on CMS.gov.

What is meant by “diabetes prevention” in the Medicare law?

If passed, the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Act (H.R. 3124/S. 1299) would allow registered dietitians to receive Medicare reimbursement for nutrition therapy for people at risk of prediabetes, in addition to other categories already covered. The Senate bill has passed two readings and will be referred to the Finance Committee in 2023.

Conclusion

Preventive care plays a serious role in reducing the risk of chronic disease, improving quality of life, and reducing long-term health care costs. By focusing on early diagnosis, lifestyle changes, regular screenings, and vaccinations, people can take proactive steps to maintain their well-being. In an era of increasing demands on health care, preventive care enables people to stay healthy longer by shifting the focus from treating illness to maintaining long-term well-being.