Opinion: Invest in community-based organizations to put health dollars where they are really needed
If it wasn’t already clear that the U.S. does a poor job of investing in things that keep people healthy, the coronavirus crisis and its disproportionate effects on people of color has made this abundantly clear — even though we spend more per capita on health care than any other nation.
If we could tie more of that investment to low-cost preventive services that deliver positive health outcomes, we could keep more people healthy in “normal” times as well as during a pandemic. The Trust for America’s Health has estimated that community-based interventions in areas like obesity prevention, wellness screening, asthma prevention, and pedestrian safety could return more than $5 for every dollar invested.
