The Hill News

It’s time to forego the rhetoric and have an honest dialogue about the state of our nation. We’re throwing away good health in the name of reducing debt. Those who oppose prevention would have us believe that the country’s suffering is primarily due to runaway debt. However, our spending must be informed by valuesâ€"by what matters to us as a nation. When we see friends and family die unnecessarily, we know that health matters. When we fail to protect our health and wellbeing through prevention we are allowing linear thinking to replace values and common sense.

In truth, we are suffering, but the national debt is not the only reason. Right this moment, many in our communities are sick, injured and dying from preventable illness and injuries. Preventable chronic illnesses alone continue to account for seven out of ten deaths annually.

Our economy suffers as well and this suffering is not relieved when a recent Gallup poll finds that U.S. busin! esses bear the burden of $153 billion in annual lost productivity due to chronic diseases, including those resulting from lack of access to healthy food and opportunity for physical activity. When we don’t prioritize prevention, we’re failing to realize prevention’s 5:1 cost savings.

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