alt Hacker NewsThis is a big problem in the UK I think. The idea of having a regular checkup with a doctor is unheard of and will get you some weird looks if you ask for it.
The NHS doesn't seem (as an outsider looking in) to do well with preventative care. I firmly believe (without necessarily a lot of evidence) that if we focused more on healthy lifestyles and made them more cost effective for people the amount of money we plough into the NHS every year could be reduced drastically.
I suspect that regular check-ups for most people would simply regularly confirm what they already know: they need to lose weight, stop smoking, take more exercise, eat more fruit and veg.
The UK now has a sugar tax on soft drinks that seems to be having a measurable positive effect. Whether it is a meaningful effect remains to be seen though:
"The findings suggest that a year after the sugar tax was introduced, adults reduced their daily free sugar intake by about 10.9g, and a reduction in soft drinks accounted for over half of this reduction. This translates to a reduction of around 40 calories daily, which if maintained, and assuming no other changes, could lead to 1.5kg weight loss over a year."
https://theconversation.com/how-do-we-know-the-uks-sugar-tax...
So perhaps instead of exhorting people to do better the state should continue to try to make bad habits more expensive and good habits cheaper.