Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wants to get this message out to Americans:
Health care isn't only what takes place in a doctor's office, a clinic or a hospital.
"We put way too much emphasis on treating disease rather than protecting health in the first place," Gerberding said in an interview.
As a result, the United States doesn't even muster a spot in the top 10 on rankings of nations' health. On one list it's 26th, the CDC says; on another, 47th.
To tackle the problem, the CDC has launched the "Healthiest Nation Campaign," and Gerberding is speaking about it at "Shaping Policy for a Healthier Nation," a conference today and Wednesday in Washington, D.C. More than 300 leaders from a variety of fields, including business, non-profit groups, health care, sports and entertainment, are expected to attend.
A main goal of the Healthiest Nation Campaign is to keep Americans healthy by integrating health into social policies across all sectors and at all levels of government, Gerberding says.
"It's basically about changing the conversation," she says. "People are talking about health care reform, but they're not really talking about health."
Today, only a nickel out of every medical-care dollar spent in the USA goes toward keeping Americans healthy, Gerberding notes. "Many countries have put more emphasis on health promotion than the United States."
When people talk about investing in prevention, she says, "typically what they're talking about is 'let's invest in screening for early detection of disease.' That's secondary prevention. We're not really talking about the things we need to do before we get to the doctor's office."
Those things include building more bicycle lanes and walkable sidewalks, making school lunches more nutritious and banning smoking in public places, Gerberding says.
Even if every American had health insurance, many still wouldn't be healthy, she says.
"When people talk about access, they usually are thinking this person does or does not have insurance. But access is a much more complicated issue than just insurance," Gerberding says.
Insurance coverage doesn't mean much if you can't afford a sitter to watch your children when you go to the doctor or you lack transportation to get there, she says.
"If you solve the problem of access, it at best would account for 25% of the health disparities we're seeing," Gerberding says. "Most of the fix is at the community, family and personal level."
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