Chronic Disease Costs "Staggering"

Illnesses Such As Diabetes And Heart Disease Cost Economy $1.3 Trillion, Report Shows

(WebMD)  A report released Tuesday concludes that chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease are costing the American economy a whopping $1.3 trillion per year.

The analysis shows that lost productivity in the form of missed work days and poor work performance actually cost the economy more money than treating diseases. It has experts warning that the problem will only get worse as the American population grows older and fatter.

"The trajectory our nation is on is one that is unsustainable," says Richard Carmona, M.D., a former U.S. Surgeon General who is now chairman of a coalition called the Partnership to Fight Chronic Diseases.

The study found that treatment for seven chronic diseases including cancers, mental illnesses, heart disease, lung conditions, hypertension, stroke, and diabetes ran to nearly $280 billion in 2003. That was dwarfed by productivity costs of more than $1 trillion, however.

“We see that these numbers are staggering,” says Ross DeVol, director of the Center for Health Care Economics at the Milken Institute, which conducted the study. The institute is run by Michael Milken, the 1980s Wall Street raider turned health activist.

“Not only do you miss work, but when you’re at work to avoid lost wages, your productivity goes down,” DeVol says.

Heart disease was the most expensive chronic disease at $65 billion in treatment costs in 2003, the report concluded. Utah had the lowest overall rates of the seven chronic diseases, while West Virginia had the highest.

But the numbers are small compared with what could happen if the nation’s approach to chronic disease doesn’t change, the report warned. Costs in lost productivity and treatment costs could climb as high as $4.2 trillion by 2023 if current trends are unchecked, researchers said.

That’s because aging baby boomers are set to skew the nation’s elderly population as they reach retirement. And millions of people who are now obese or becoming overweight will soon start costing the economy money.

“Much of this cost is avoidable,” researchers for the study write.

Future Trends

Milkin’s group recommends a major overhaul of how the country deals with chronic diseases, calling on policy makers to “renew our commitment to achieving a healthy body weight.” Doctors and other health care providers should also be paid to manage and prevent chronic illnesses, instead of getting most of their income from treatments, the report recommends.

Carmona says he’s been traveling in Iowa, New Hampshire, and other early presidential primary states pressuring candidates to make disease prevention part of their health care platforms.

“We want to make sure this issue is on their political agendas,” he says.

[grammawhamma]

I guess now that "they" think they won the battle against smokers...it is now time to pick on overweight people.

Maybe if "they" didn''t keep raising the retirement age for social security, younger people could get jobs and productivity would improve.

Everet3 I am sorry for your situation...I wish you the best. Something definitely needs to be done with health care in this country. I don''t know what the answer is but what we have now isn''t working.

[everet3]

I was kicked off the UNOS transplant list because I was told I only had Medicaid. So I will die because I''m poor what else is suppose to be new. this country has been trying to kill the poor ever since I can remember.

[everet3]

I guess getting kicked off the transplant list because your on medicaid dosen''t count huh?

[tnt1954]

mandatory purrfect bodyweight? punishable by imprisonment? they had no food, no shelter, no clothing, no money and no work. they felt depressed and helpless and were rather in despair. the psychiatrist sent to comment on the situation said
''what these people need is anti-psychotic medication
with anti-depressant medication.''. when they
starve to death and die of exposure, they will be
happy, and not psychotic. obviously, these people
had mental illness, otherwise how could they possibly
be poor, and starving to death. then he returned
to treat women in scarsdale, new york, who suffered
from the anguish of their love affairs at the
local country club.