Staff photo by Fritz Busch New Ulm Medical Center’s Dr. Bradley Berger said prevention is the best medicine at the 2024 Home & Health Show held Saturday at the New Ulm Civic Center.

NEW ULM — New Ulm Medical Center Obstetrics and Gynecology and Primary Care Dr. Bradley Berger shared his thoughts on today’s health care at the 2024 Home and Health Show on Saturday.

“We don’t focus as much on prevention as we do treatment in this country.” Mr. Berger said.

“It’s really a disgrace. It’s much easier to prevent a disease than to treat it and try to reverse it.” he added.

Berger said primary prevention involves intervening before a person becomes ill, who is healthy, disease-free, and maintains a healthy lifestyle with proper diet, exercise, and sleep patterns.

“Secondary prevention reduces the progression of the disease, such as treating people diagnosed with diabetes with medications and exercise to prevent the disease from worsening.” he added.

Tertiary prevention deals with interventions for known diseases, such as diabetics with kidney problems or heart disease, to keep them off dialysis and reduce mortality rates such as heart attacks.

“In the United States, secondary and tertiary prevention is the medical industry’s advertising for drugs to treat diabetes and heart disease. Why don’t you try to prevent it from happening?” Mr. Berger said.

He said the general health of the American people is deteriorating.

“Our life expectancies have shortened in recent years, which is unheard of in developed countries like the United States, and we see this every day in our younger generations. People in their 20s and 30s… We see them being very unhealthy, taking more medications and having more surgeries than older generations.” he added.

If this trend continues, Berger said, it will cause a national catastrophe within a few years.

“Quality of life will continue to decline, life expectancy will shorten, health care costs will rise significantly, more people will be covered by public insurance, and access to doctors will become more difficult.” he added.

“There are 40- and 50-year-olds who literally look like they’re 90. Even 90-year-olds look much younger.” Mr. Berger said.

“Prevention reduces risk factors for two of the most common diseases in the United States: malignancy (a tendency for conditions to worsen, such as cancerous tumors) and cardiovascular disease.” he added.

Berger said lifestyle is part of the problem.

“We are becoming increasingly sedentary. Many of our jobs are done by machines.” he added.

Berger said he believes patient education can help prevent the disease.

“It’s important to watch your diet and exercise. Health insurance offers discounts when people join health clubs. Nationwide, chronic disease prevention costs about $100 billion a year. Last but not least, as our population grows and the number of health care providers decreases, prevention helps.” he added.

Berger said it’s scary to think about it, but there will be a severe shortage of doctors and health care providers.

“By 2030, many more people will have difficulty even seeing a doctor. Healthcare workers are retiring, burnout is high, and healthcare bureaucracy is worsening.” he added.

He advised people to maintain a healthy lifestyle as a primary prevention measure so that they can get on with their lives without being bothered by the disease.

Berger encouraged people to get tested for illnesses, some of which are easily recoverable.

“A lot of people don’t do that. It’s really unfortunate.” he added.

Berger urged people to make regular medical appointments for vaccinations, blood tests and other health checks.

“Preventive testing and follow-up are very important. Things like answering your doctor’s questions are also very important to stop the disease early. They can provide clues about the disease.” he added.

Berger said family medical history is also very important to screen for future illnesses and prevent certain types of cancer, heart attacks and strokes.