February 15, 2008 10:02AM 

# 1 oz. Prevention = 1 oz. Cure 

By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) 

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In a [previous post](https://www.cato.org/2008/02/14/an-ounce-of-prevention-is-worth-what/), I reported on an [article](http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/358/7/661?query=TOC) in this week’s *New England Journal of Medicine* that dispells the myth that, ahem, *investing* in additional preventive care would save money. I titled the post, “An Ounce of Prevention Is Worth … What?” A snarky colleague emailed to say, essentially, “Duh, it’s worth a *pound* of *cure* …”

But that’s just the point: an ounce of prevention is *not* worth a pound of cure. The authors of that article included [this graph](http://content.nejm.org/content/vol358/issue7/images/large/01f1.jpeg), which shows that prevention and cure match up fairly evenly when it comes to cost-effectiveness:

![Media Name: nejmp0708558_f1.jpeg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/download-remote-images/www.nejm.org/242939748377/nejmp0708558_f1.jpeg?itok=5qYk-RnF) 

In other words, it appears that [Mr. Franklin](http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/quotable/quote67.htm) over-valued prevention by a factor of 16, and if we want to improve health we would do as well to invest in cure as in prevention.

##### Related Tags 

[General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care) 

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