Argumentative Essay: Preventive Medicine In The United States

Preventive medicine is becoming an integral part of many healthcare systems around the world. More countries are trying to adopt a preventive health care system with the idea of improving the overall health of their respective populations. The question that arises: is preventive medicine effective at cutting costs and saving lives in the long run? According to some research studies, preventive medicine is effective at both in the long run. In one of the research studies conducted, it was shown that the preventive system saved 2 million lives and almost $4 billion yearly by providing services such as alcohol abuse screening and tobacco cessation (1). Another study has shown that people aged 70 and above, who are helped by preventive medicine,

The increase in lifespan through preventive medicine might cause short term budget problems for federal services such as Social Security and Medicare. Rather than observing the short term costs, the critics should acknowledge the fact that the increase in longevity will cause people to work longer, which will increase the revenue through income taxes. Another reason why many people resist the increase in preventive services is because they believe that it is hard to change people’s bad habits. According to the CDC, approximately 68.8% of the smokers want to quit smoking, and almost 42.7% have attempted to quit (3). Along with that, many people also argue that certain nationalities are more inclined to have certain diseases despite the promotion of preventive medicine. For instance, African Americans have higher chances of contracting diabetes, hypertension, and heart diseases than other races in the United States. The Hispanic population is more likely to have renal cancer than other ethnic groups (4). Even though, certain races are genetically prone to have certain diseases, preventive medicine can certainly reduce the chances of having the diseases by promoting healthy