In May 2025, California Governor Gavin Newsom proposed a budget to curb a foreseen deficit of $12 billion. One of the proposals includes cutting spending on Medi-Cal, the phased out healthcare program for undocumented immigrants. In Newsom’s proposition, he intends to cancel enrollment for new beneficiaries in 2026 and start some assessed monthly premiums in 2027 in order to save $5.4 billion by 2029. While these cuts may balance future budgets, the increased expenses waiting for treatment among California patients will far exceed costs if they cannot access preventive care.
The United States (U.S.) is the largest spender on healthcare in the world, with an outstanding $4.9 trillion allocated in 2023. Despite heavy investment in healthcare programs, chronic diseases continue to deprive nearly 60 percent of adults, including heart disease and cancer. With preventive early care, which emphasizes being proactive and receiving regular health screenings that provide lifestyle counseling and early detection, many chronic diseases can be managed more effectively or prevented.
When diseases remain undiagnosed, it may lead to the growth of the illnesses, causing patients to rely on costly emergency medical services, such as emergency room visits, to address the health issue. In addition, the maturation of a disease can contribute to straining health issues or even fatality. Such practices have been proven to reduce the financial burden of chronic health by catching diseases earlier, lowering emergency care costs and improving workforce productivity.
Routine doctor visits can detect medical problems before they become costly emergencies. Early disease detection can prevent $517,000 in avoidable costs per chronic disease patient. The savings don’t only consist of medical bills, but also of missed workdays and drug expenses. The later in life that the diagnosis is made, the more severe the physical consequences and the greater the healthcare costs, such as in cases of untreated heart disease. Governor Newsom’s new strategy of reducing access to healthcare to address an estimated $12 billion budget deficit could exacerbate the problem, as losing non-urgent coverage will likely result in more late-stage diagnoses and higher long-term costs to the state.
Preventive care is necessary to reduce expensive emergency care. Approximately 13 to 27 percent of emergency room visits can be addressed as effectively in a doctor’s clinic or an urgent care center. If patients didn’t manage health conflicts through physician clinics and emergency care, a total of $4.4 billion could be saved annually. This consists of unnecessary tests and procedures, along with lower facility fees.
Due to the many obstacles in accessing affordable healthcare and prompt treatment, many people use emergency rooms for non-life-threatening illnesses. In 2023, more than 28 percent of U.S. adults delayed or gave up on receiving medical care. This is a deeply concerning statistic that sheds light on how barriers of cost and access are still driving many Americans away from vital preventive services.
Put simply, one of the major reasons people do not seek preventative care is because of the financial burden related to regular checkups. According to a 2018 Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved study, 45 percent of respondents postponed or avoided treatment because of cost. Financial hardship was found to be a major motivator for people to postpone or forgo both preventative and nonpreventive treatment. This shows how even insured people may run across financial hurdles that stop them from getting regular preventive care.
Regular check-ups and managing chronic diseases at a stable state and vaccinations can help keep an individual healthy and detect health problems early. Addressing community health problems before they hit the emergency room or become expensive hospital cases is the most cost-effective option. California has started several programs to improve access to preventive care. In 2023, the state launched an enhanced cost-sharing reduction program through Covered California, which reduces out-of-pocket expenses for over 600,000 enrollees, eliminating financial barriers to accessing preventative services. The state must continue to support these healthcare services and programs that increase affordability through funding.
Preventive care reduces financial loss by helping individuals receive a stable income. A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified chronic diseases as the primary cause of healthcare costs, resulting in an annual loss of $2.7 trillion in economic productivity in the U.S. Moreover, preventative care keeps employees at the workplace rather than in a hospital bed, allowing them to remain productive members of society and support the economy through their labor.
In addition, allowing employees to collect their full paycheck facilitates greater stability in their lives. Avoiding hospital visits enables wage earners to allocate their spending toward providing for their families, freeing them of a heavy financial burden. Moreover, by using preventive care, families and friends are kept with their loved ones, without the distance that comes with hospitalizations. Newsom’s proposal to slash funding for healthcare could create more distance, as increased hospitalizations may result from fewer people being able to afford the preventive care that keeps them out of hospitals.
In a world where maintaining one’s health is becoming increasingly expensive, preventive care serves both as a health measure and an economic remedy. The data shows that early detection of disease significantly lessens the strain an individual bears financially. Preventive care is an essential intervention to halt treatable conditions from developing into chronic emergencies and cut health expenses down the line. Considering these advantages, Governor Newsom should invest in expanding access to state healthcare programs rather than cutting them. Investments that would save long-term expenses by lowering the necessity of emergency interventions and keeping Californians financially active.
By intervening early, fewer people are forced through hospital doors and continue to fulfill their earning potential without the potential financial constraints that come from emergency care and harsh chronic diseases. Overall, the phrase “health is wealth” is a mantra worth spreading in today’s world.
