Actually, preventative care is really only "cost effective" depending on the observer and what time period you measure. It also assumes you are taking about some kind of screening that is cheap, and some measure that is cheap. Vaccines are usually in this category, as is aspirin for certain risk categories.

Other things, like cancer screening, actually cost the payer more than letting people die of disease as you treat them. (I have seen x4 the cost for breast cancer) It's a numbers game. Way, way more people get screened than ever get disease. Then there are confirmatory tests, repeat imaging, biopsies...you get it.

Maybe the biggest deception of all is that we can't live healthy lives unless we have health insurance.

I couldn't agree with you more. Insurance is designed to profit the insurance company. As someone without insurance, I understand that I need to make good, healthy choices.