Approximately 100 different organizations recently mailed a letter to Capitol Hill encouraging leaders to pass a legislation to allow the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to analyze potential savings from programs to prevent diseases.
Chronic illnesses make up over 80 percent of the money that the U.S. spends on health care in one year, totaling $2.7 trillion. It is important to generate as many savings as possible from this figure.
Organizations that signed the letter include health industry sectors, patient advocacy organizations and several leading employers within the U.S. They are calling for leaders to uphold the Preventive Health Savings Act, mandating the Preventive Health Savings Act.
Under this act, the CBO will need to determine whether preventive health initiatives can create more savings past the typical scoring window of 10 years.
“Research has demonstrated that certain expenditures for preventive medicine generate savings when considered in the long term, but these cost savings may not be apparent when assessing only the first 10 years -- those in the 'scoring' window,” the letter stated. “Preventing or delaying the onset of new cases and mitigating the progression of chronic disease will improve the health of Americans while lowering health care costs and overall spending.”
