Discussions about spending on health and social care often fall into silos, determined by disease or the cause of death. Spending on health and social care is rarely assessed along the lines of a life-course model. It is also ironic that many public health interventions provide relatively convincing value for money, yet we still only spend approximately 5% of the NHS budget on prevention.

Health Economics of Well-being and Well-becoming across the Life-course follows a life-course model with chapters aligned to pregnancy and early years; adolescence; working age; and older age phases of life. It enables the reader to think about older age in a different way and asks them to consider where we should be investing in cost-effective interventions to support the prevention of chronic disease, disability, and premature death later in life. Academically, it brings the rigour of evidence review to an eminently readable book using infographics and take-home messages.

The economic and health economics evidence presented, drawing on systematic review evidence where possible, provokes discussion of the tension between prevention and cure in our health and social care systems.