Alarming statistics show that up to 40% of deaths in the US could have been prevented with proper preventive care, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Foundation. This staggering number underscores the importance of prioritizing preventive measures to safeguard your health. Let’s look into the difference between preventive care and treatment, so you can make informed decisions regarding your health.
What is Preventive Care?
Prevention, or preventive care, focuses on proactive measures to stop illnesses before they happen and maintain good health. Consider it similar to regularly servicing your car to avoid costly breakdowns in the future. By identifying potential health risks early on, preventive care allows you to take steps to mitigate them before they become a total breakdown. This proactive approach leads to better health outcomes, reduces healthcare costs for individuals and ultimately improves your quality of life. Preventive care is not a guarantee of good health, but it helps decrease your risk of developing greater health issues in the future.
Examples of preventive care services include:
- Annual physical exams: These routine checkups with your doctor allow for early detection of potential health problems and can include blood pressure checks, cholesterol screenings, and discussions about healthy lifestyle habits.
- Immunizations: Getting vaccinated throughout your life protects you from serious infectious diseases.
- Cancer screenings: Regular screenings for specific cancers, such as mammograms and colonoscopies, can detect these diseases at an early stage, when treatment is most effective.
- Dental cleanings: Regular dental checkups and cleanings help prevent cavities, gum disease, and other oral health problems.
There are three types of prevention categorized by the Centers for Disease Control:
- Primary Prevention means “intervening before health effects occur.” This includes measures like vaccinations, promoting a healthy diet and lifestyle, and avoiding high-risk behaviors such as tobacco use. These measures prevent a disease from ever manifesting.
- Secondary Prevention includes practices like screening mammograms and colonoscopies that help identify diseases before symptoms begin. Secondary prevention tries to catch diseases at an early stage and start treatment quickly before the disease can progress to a stage that needs more drastic treatment.
- Tertiary Prevention manages diseases after they are diagnosed to slow or stop their progression. Tertiary prevention hopes to avoid further complications from an established disease, especially in long-term or chronic conditions.
What is Treatment?
Treatment, in contrast, focuses on addressing existing health concerns. Unlike preventive care’s focus on preventing illness, treatment comes into play after an illness or injury has already occurred. Examples of treatment include:
- Medication: This could involve prescription drugs or over-the-counter medications to manage or cure a health condition.
- Surgery: Surgical procedures can be necessary to address various medical issues, from repairing injuries to removing cancerous tumors.
- Emergency care: This includes care received for sudden and severe illnesses or injuries, such as in an emergency room setting.
What Are the Benefits of Prevention?
A big benefit of preventive care is being able to catch a disease early, which may save you money in the long run by helping you avoid costly medical bills. Though preventive care may save you money, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) emphasizes even greater advantages:
- Reducing preventable deaths: Preventive care plays a crucial role in lowering mortality rates by addressing risk factors for chronic illnesses before they become life-threatening. Early detection allows for prompt intervention and treatment, significantly improving treatment outcomes and chances of recovery.
- Improving overall quality of life: Maintaining good health allows you to enjoy a more active and fulfilling life, free from the limitations chronic illnesses can impose.
Beyond these core benefits, preventive care offers additional advantages:
- Increased productivity: By keeping you healthy, preventive care helps you stay active and miss fewer work or school days due to illness.
- Reduced emotional stress: The worry and anxiety associated with chronic illnesses can be significant. Preventive care can help reduce your risk of developing these conditions, leading to improved mental well-being.
- Improved self-confidence: Taking charge of your health through preventive care can empower you and boost your confidence.
- Potential for lower insurance premiums: Some health insurance plans offer discounts for members who participate in preventive care programs.
Looking at the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) list of leading causes of death in the US, many are related to preventable health conditions. Take, for example, heart disease, the number one cause of death. Through routine care and healthy living habits, many conditions related to heart disease are either manageable or entirely preventable. While not all instances of heart disease-related deaths are preventable, routine preventive care can still dramatically impact public health and bring down mortality rates.
Zion HealthShare and Prevention
Many people traditionally turn to healthcare only after experiencing a health issue. At Zion HealthShare, we believe in a proactive approach to well-being. We empower our members to take preventive steps and prioritize their health throughout their lives.
How we support Preventive care:
- Annual Provider Visits: Annual provider visits are automatically included in the Individual & Family memberships and can also be added on to any other membership type. We encourage all members to use this membership feature.
- Cost-Sharing for Immunizations: We share costs associated with routine immunizations for children up to age 18 for those with the Individual & Family membership or those with the preventive service add-on. This helps ensure children receive essential vaccinations to protect them from preventable diseases.
- 24/7 Virtual Access: Members with the Individual & Family membership or Virtual Care add-on have unlimited access to a physician 24/7 through Primestin Care. This convenient service allows for consultations and early intervention for potential health concerns.
Beyond these services, we strongly emphasize a preventive mindset. We believe that healthy lifestyle choices are the cornerstone of preventive care. By encouraging healthy habits like balanced diet, regular exercise, and stress management, we aim to empower our members to take charge of their well-being.
Invest in your health today! Schedule an appointment with your doctor and explore how Zion HealthShare can support your preventive care journey. Visit our website https://zionhealthshare.org/ or contact us to learn more about our membership options and empower yourself to live a healthier, happier life.
The content in this blog is meant to be informative in nature, but it shouldn’t be taken as medical advice, and it shouldn’t take the place of medical advice or supervision from a trained professional. Zion HealthShare is not an insurance company. Neither this publication nor membership in Zion HealthShare are offered by an insurance company. Visit ZionHealthShare.org to view your state-specific notice.
Current as of: January 10, 2026