Former Surgeon General Carmona outlines preventive methods for chronic diseases in opinion piece

"The issue of health care reform in the United States is extraordinarily complex," but the "good news is that we can take steps now to improve the health and well-being of our people by addressing our nation's single greatest threat to public health and our health care system: chronic disease," former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona writes in a Philadelphia Inquirer opinion piece.

Carmona -- president of the Canyon Ranch Institute and chair of the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease -- continues, "Fixing our health care system requires that we transform our fundamental approach to health" by "moving away from 'sick care' -- where we treat diseases after they occur -- toward embracing health and wellness through prevention." In addition, "we need to support addressing chronic disease prevention and management in any health care plan because prevention and management of chronic diseases are the solution to our health care problems."

He adds that the U.S. needs to "put partisanship aside and find new ways to address chronic disease by helping Americans make better health decisions, by establishing incentives to prevent and manage chronic disease, and by maintaining our robust public health research" (Carmona, Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/12).