Investing in Public Health

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Better health at lower cost. This book proposes sound investments to achieve these twin goals. Rooted in a life-cycle approach, key investments start with timely prenatal care, immunizations, better educational attainment, a healthier and active work force, and healthy aging. Dr. Meyer distills the forces driving people into the health care system - poverty, tobacco use, obesity, and pollution and presents policy prescriptions aimed at core drivers of poor health and high costs. This book presents the concept of a "positive life spiral" in which carefully targeted investments result in better health outcomes, health care savings, and more people working productively. This lowers public assistance costs and broadens the tax base. Some of the savings are plowed back into more investments, continuing the upward spiral. The author presents a solid strategy to finance the new investments with an in-depth plan to reduce the huge amount of wasteful spending inside our health care system. He offers new approaches to health care delivery and financing, along with modern policies to assess the value of medical technology. Savings are placed in a new and secure trust fund that will redirect spending toward high-value investments in public health, education, and work force development.