I am no expert on the public health system and so I'm more than willing to be educated/corrected here, but I have the following impression:
There is more money to be made by stakeholders treating health problems than there is in preventing them. And so there is a lot more money and effort invested in developing pharmaceutical and treatment solutions than there is in preventing the problems they treat – even though that would be far, far better for society as a whole.
Alternatively/additionally, the stakeholders that make money treating things (insurance companies, hospitals, etc.) are simply larger and better capitalized than those that make money preventing health problems (gyms, health food stores, etc.) The biggest gym or fitness company in the world is probably minuscule in comparison to the average medical company.
The only wrinkle in my understanding here is that as far as I know, insurance rates are lower for healthy people, and thus doctors(?) are somewhat incentivized to have healthier patients.
Is there a market-based solution to this? And if so, what would it look like? Tax breaks for gyms? More lobbying from Big Gym?
There is more money to be made by stakeholders treating health problems than there is in preventing them. And so there is a lot more money and effort invested in developing pharmaceutical and treatment solutions than there is in preventing the problems they treat – even though that would be far, far better for society as a whole.
Alternatively/additionally, the stakeholders that make money treating things (insurance companies, hospitals, etc.) are simply larger and better capitalized than those that make money preventing health problems (gyms, health food stores, etc.) The biggest gym or fitness company in the world is probably minuscule in comparison to the average medical company.
The only wrinkle in my understanding here is that as far as I know, insurance rates are lower for healthy people, and thus doctors(?) are somewhat incentivized to have healthier patients.
Is there a market-based solution to this? And if so, what would it look like? Tax breaks for gyms? More lobbying from Big Gym?