We have all seen the statistics that indicate the highest mortality rates every year in the last couple years are heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes. All of these are in essence a chronic disease and can be preventable. Most of the increasing healthcare costs have a lot to do with the increase of all these preventable diseases yet the government continues to funnel money into non-preventive avenues. In this fast paced society, it's not wonder. The impacts of preventive medicine are rarely seen in easily proven timely instances. In this society, results need to be seen now, immediate, and proven to work. Preventive medicine, however, takes time and results are usually not seen till many years later if and only if the "patient" actually does the necessary lifestyle changes to prevent or backtrack a chronic disease. At the same time, if the government were to funnel a lot of money into preventive medicine, in the short term, tax payers will probably feel the money is going to waste since they themselves can't see results right away. The entire situation turns into a vicious cycle. The only way to break the cycle is to convince others that preventive medicine is really the way to go. It is only the first giant step in persuasion toward preventive medicine that will be followed by many many more instances of needed persuasion and change of attitude toward preventive medicine. It's difficult, but the more people for it, the more of a chance we got.
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