What are preventive services?

• A. Care that treats acute illness after onset.
• B. Care that helps prevent illness, like vaccines and screenings.
• C. Care that focuses on rehabilitation after surgery.
• D. Care that covers emergency services.

Answer: (B)

Preventive services are actions taken to keep people healthy by preventing illness or catching diseases early before symptoms start. They include things like vaccines, which build immunity and prevent infections, and screenings, which detect conditions at an early, more treatable stage. This focus on stopping illness before it develops or catching it before it becomes serious is what distinguishes preventive care from other types of medical care.

The option describing care that helps prevent illness, such as vaccines and screenings, best fits this idea. Other kinds of care described—treating acute illness after it starts, rehabilitation after surgery, or handling emergencies—are important but are not preventive in nature. They respond to problems that have already begun or occurred, rather than aiming to stop problems from arising in the first place.