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We often talk about the importance of preventive care, and how it can reduce your medical bill costs.

But proper chronic care, and how it can reduce health care costs, is more often overlooked.

Writing on the opinion page of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Paul Serini takes a look at the health care cost issues in Georgia caused by insufficient care of chronic issues.

His analysis follows a similar path as arguments for better preventive care. He cites figures that show 75 percent of medicare spending is on chronic conditions.

While recurring conditions will naturally cost more than a one-time illness, he says that improved regular care – preventive-style check-ups, maintaining treatments and therapies – can limit the long term costs:

The harsh reality reflected in these numbers is that the nearly 79,000 Atlanta-area seniors in traditional Medicare with chronic conditions simply fall through the cracks that exist in the current program, suffering repeat admissions to the hospital and experiencing a frustrating and downward spiral of progressively poorer health and sky-rocketing medical costs.

While chronic conditions may require regular care and treatment, if you can stay on top of these then you are less likely to suffer larger costs.

For example, a regular prescription drug cost can quickly become a burden. But if skipping your medication causes problems you could end up in the hospital – escorted by a ride in the ambulance – that costs many more times the price of maintaining your prescription.

So while it may seem another tough item to balance in your budget, when it comes to managing medical bills you sometimes have to look long-term.