Throughout the health reform debate, policymakers have frequently cited the need for more effective disease prevention to both improve health and reduce health system costs. Prevention strategies encompass a wide range of policy options that extend far beyond insurance coverage and benefit design. While some preventive services are provided in medical settings, most prevention efforts seek to intervene much farther "upstream" to ensure conditions and facilitate individual choices that promote health.

Often Congress debates those policy issues most relevant to disease prevention outside of the traditional health committees, as illustrated by the child nutrition reauthorization bills pending before the House and Senate Agriculture committees. Two new Forum publications explore an important aspect of child nutrition policies—the role of schools in shaping the dietary habits, nutritional status, and health outcomes of American children—through the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs and policies on availability of "competitive" foods in schools.