I haven't had time to read all of the comments, but here's a suggestion.  It wouldn't make much difference, if any, in the short term, but should in the longer term..  I believe we need to have a stronger emphasis on prevention.  Proactively target the root causes rather than reactively treat the end results.  For example, if I'm remembering correctly, something like 50% of the population is overweight.  As we all know, this leads to increased risk for various health issues (diabetes, heart disease, etc.).

We should probably also be covering preventative dental care as, again, it should save money in the long term.