Discuss the role of the private sector in health promotion and disease prevention in the United States.

What will be an ideal response?

In the past, it was comparatively easy to describe organized public health efforts as being the responsibility of local governmental agencies because most of the public health problems being attacked were social and environmental in nature; therefore, they were naturally more amenable to relief from broad-scale public activities. As the focus of health promotion and disease prevention changes to more individual lifestyle change in relation to the threat of chronic illness, the role of the private physician becomes much more important. Unfortunately, many physicians see their roles as curative rather than preventive, and indeed, they are reimbursed for curative treatment-related activities and not for prevention. Also, it is unfortunate that a significant percentage of the population is uninsured, so their access to physicians who might play an important role in individual lifestyle change is limited. Until there is universal health insurance coverage, the role of physicians in health promotion and disease prevention will not extend to the entire population.