Health Affairs

Health Affairs, 28, no. 5 (2009): 1556 doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.28.5.1556 © 2009 by Project HOPE	New Online   Getting Health Reform Done   After the State of the Union   Incremental Reform   E-Health in Developing World   Most-Read Articles in 2009

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Letters

Prevention: Russell Responds

As the title of my Jan/Feb 09 article implies, and the article and abstract explain, a minority of preventive interventions do reduce medical spending. So do a minority of treatments. There might be more if prices were lower. A recent analysis reported that statins would be cost-saving at less than 10 cents per pill.¹ Nonetheless, over the full range of effective prevention, four decades of studies show that most preventive interventions add more to medical spending than they save.

Aspirin, pediatric immunizations, and smoking cessation are certainly among the most cost-effective interventions, but more-nuanced conclusions are needed. As I noted . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Louise Russell
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey

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