THE HEALTHY People/Healthy Economy report card is cause for tremendous concern - specifically, our state’s glaring F grade for public health funding (“Public health needs in spotlight,’’ Metro, July 19). Massachusetts is about to embark on a major effort to reform the health care payment system, with the goals of reducing runaway costs of care and improving health outcomes. If we are to succeed, we must focus not just on treating disease treatment but on preventing it. Conditions such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, asthma, and heart disease are extraordinarily expensive to treat, and they erode our quality of life, workplace productivity, and ability to learn in school.
State’s failing grade on funding is cause for concern
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR | POINTING THE WAY ON PUBLIC HEALTH
A January 2011 study published in The American Journal of Public Health found that a mere 5 percent reduction in the prevalence of diabetes and hypertension alone could save the Commonwealth $450 million each year. That’s why we are calling for the creation of a Prevention and Cost Control Trust as part of any payment reform legislation. Funded by a small assessment on health insurers, the trust would support strategies that we know work to prevent costly health conditions. The opportunity that we have before us may not come again for decades. Let’s get it right.
Senator Harriette L. Chandler
Democrat of Worcester
Representative Jason M. Lewis
Democrat of Winchester
The writers cochair a legislative caucus on preventive health.
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