In healthcare, is the human being an asset or liability?

This article contrasts the application of preventive and predictive technologies in industry to those in healthcare. For years, risk managers have been discussing the rationing of care. This article presents the perspective of an engineering professional from the manufacturing industry who now consults with healthcare risk managers. The human being is often referred to as an "asset" in our society. Do we actually treat people as assets or liabilities? When preventive maintenance is routinely performed on a piece of equipment, the benefits are more reliable operations, increased productivity, and lower life cycle costs. If these proactive concepts are applied to the human body within our current healthcare systems, will we see these same benefits?