Bus tour promotes preventive health care

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By MARK ANDERSEN / Lincoln Journal Star

It rolls up to the Capitol playing a tinny version of “There ain’t no place ...” and painted over in messages that show Medicare’s new emphasis on preventive health care.

It’s a big bus, but it seems a tiny challenger to set against the juggernaut of U.S. health care spending.

Dr. John Agwunobi, assistant secretary for health, steps from the bus to hail local Medicare and insurance counselors.

“You can’t really build a culture of prevention from Washington,” he says, explaining the excursion that has reached its 32nd of 50 states and is headed south.

“Health starts at home,” Agwunobi later tells reporters, listing four points of Medicare’s campaign, reminding people they need to:

* Be more physically active. 

* Eat a nutritious diet.

* Avoid such risky behavior as smoking. 

* Take advantage of Medicare’s packaged offering of screening for chronic diseases.

He emphasizes the last point, mentioning cancer screenings, tests for diabetes and glaucoma, and the availability of vaccinations against influenza and pneumonia.

The campaign is not so much about a new program as it is a new attitude, explains Dr. Joann Schaefer, Nebraska’s chief medical officer.

There was a time when Medicare paid for the problems, she says, but not for such screenings as mammograms to find and treat them earlier. Not anymore.

Not long ago, says Agwunobi, a physician had to go to bat for a patient to get Medicare to pay for smoking cessation.

“Now, it’s quite easy,” he says. “We’re asking individuals and practitioners to seek it.

The services are there, he says. People just need to ask for them.

“We just can’t be a nation with this much chronic disease and this much cost of chronic disease.”

The entourage moves to the Capitol dome, where Gov. Dave Heineman endorses the message and signs a proclamation.

Outside, the painted bus sits empty. One of its former black-suited passengers stands next to it, using it as a shield from the Nebraska wind as he lights a cigarette.

Reach Mark Andersen at 473-7238 or mandersen@journalstar.com.