Although preventative services such as routine well-care visits and immunizations have often shown to be beneficial in terms of preventing future, more expensive, health care encounters, not all insurance plans offer reimbursement for such things. In addition, health care policies have only recently begun to recognize the 'worth' of funding prevention-related services.

Why do you believe that funding preventive health care services has taken so long to become a major component of health plans?

In my opinion, I believe that a main reason it has taken this long for preventive care to become a major component of health plans, is due to not being beneficial for the insurance companies and CMS. What I am justifying by this, is that in earlier days, people were not living as long as they are in today's era. The knowledge of knowing the preventions were not fully understood until now. Expensive scans that could have detected and prevented issues, were deemed unnecessary, due to lack of today's knowledge.

However, with people living longer and driving up hospital expenses, insurance companies and CMS had to develop new ways to save cost. There biggest was hospital expenses, and the only way to limit people from going to hospitals was to accept preventative treatments.

What do you think will need to happen to change the prevailing mindset of funding health care services reactively versus proactively from a third-party payer's and a provider's? Why?

In my opinion, the only thing that needs to happen, is for patients to realize the power they have on insurance companies. Insurance companies are called "Health Insurance" for a reason, it's obviously for our health. If patients were to be more responsible for their health, and practice the preventive measures that they are advised and educated by their physicians, which; it really depends on your doctor, for some doctors do not educate their patients. However, this would ideally drive down personal health care expenses, with a nationwide support, would force insurance companies to lower their rates.

References:

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/health-care-costs-and-the-third-party-payer-problem/