Report: Invest $10 a person for better health

"You're prolonging the period of healthy life," said Jeff Levi, executive director of the Trust for America's Health. "Whether I need a knee replacement is not a life-and-death question. … If I'm not obese and more mobile and don't kill my knees and therefore don't need that knee replacement, I'm not living longer, but I'm a lot cheaper."

For the report, the New York Academy of Medicine reviewed research on community-based disease prevention programs to find what works, and how well. Then the Urban Institute developed a model to estimate the savings in health care costs that would accrue if the country achieved various levels of health improvements -- such as a 5 percent drop in diabetes and high blood pressure rates.


