Currently, approximately 16 cents of every dollar earned in the U.S. is spent
on health care, according to 2006 estimates. The report anticipates that this
will rise to 19.6 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2016. The
growth is attributed to an aging population. Also, spending on prescription
drugs is expected to grow by approximately 8.6 percent annually, to a level
of $500 billion in 2016. This is more than double the 2006 amount.U.S. citizens get the worst health care bargain in the world: They spend
more on health care (or sick
care, actually) than any other nation, yet rates of chronic degenerative
disease also remain higher in the U.S. than anywhere in the world. Clearly,
the U.S. sick care system does not work.
The real reasons behind rising health care costs in the United States are
the continued high prices of new drugs and the utter unwillingness of medical
authorities to teach disease prevention to the population. Skyrocketing health
care costs are bankrupting the U.S. economy and forcing businesses to shut
down or move overseas. Half of all personal bankruptcies in the United States
are due to medical bills. The sick care industry seems bent on leaving Americans
bankrupt and living in a state of ongoing disease diagnosis and "management" rather
than teaching people how to actually prevent disease.The cost of caring for
aging Americans will add 25 percent to the nation's health care bill by 2030
unless people act now to stay healthy, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention said on Thursday. Currently, 80 percent of Americans aged 65 and older
have at least one chronic disease that could lead to premature death and disability,
CDC researchers said.
The report, The State of Aging and Health in America 2007, projects that by
2030, 71 million Americans will be over 65, accounting for 20 percent of the
U.S. population, up from 10 to 11 percent now. With the cost of caring for
older Americans at three to five times greater than care for younger adults,
CDC researchers believe policymakers and individuals should take steps to help
aging adults forestall chronic disease.
"Given the demographics ... the economic impact on healthcare will be
enormous," said Dr. Richard Murray, a vice president at Merck & Co.
Inc., whose foundation funded the study. If people adopt healthier lifestyles,
they will not develop the expensive, chronic diseases that raise health costs
sharply, such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease.
"We are going to see an increase in health care costs, but the goal has
to be to restrain the rate of increase. Prevention is the key to that," said
Bill Benson, a health care benefits and policy analyst who advised the CDC
on the report.
The report noted that three behaviors -- smoking, poor diet and physical inactivity
-- caused almost 35 percent of U.S. deaths in 2000. Those three behaviors often
lead to the development of the nation's leading chronic diseases: heart disease,
cancer, stroke and diabetes, they said. "Having a chronic disease that's
well managed doesn't necessarily put a person at risk for functional decline,
but when someone starts developing problems, they are much more at risk," said
Lynda Anderson, a chronic disease and aging expert at the CDC.
The report looks at how states are faring in terms of elderly health and providing
preventive care such as immunizations and health screenings and taking steps
to prevent falls, a major risk for the elderly.
"You have some regions that are doing extremely well in a lot of areas
and others that are struggling to get these services to older adults," she
said. Elderly people in Hawaii, for example, are likely to fare better in many
key measures of health. The state ranked best in overall health, mental health,
and disability and had the lowest percent of obese elderly. But Hawaii ranked
last in terms of screening for colorectal cancer.
West Virginia ranked worst in terms of overall health, oral health and disability,
while Kentucky had the highest level of elderly people reporting mental health
problems. Louisiana reported the highest levels of obesity, with more than
25 percent of the elderly population considered obese.
She hopes the data will give state policymakers the right tools to start building
prevention programs now, before chronic disease begins. "We have the opportunity for prevention," Merck's Murray said. "We
need to be serious about it." The report was authored by a team of economists,
statisticians and actuaries from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
================================
Advertisement
Multivitamin Supplements & Diabetes:
Recent research confirmed that taking a daily multivitamin and mineral supplement
has a positive impact on the quality of life for people with diabetes. So regularly
taking a multiple is an easy choice, but for most finding the right one to
trust with their health proves to be a more difficult matter. alpha betic(r)
is uniquely balanced to meet the special dietary needs of people with diabetes
and those predisposed to diabetes. alpha betic(r) contains 23 important nutrients
in safe and balanced doses, with no copper. For more information: Click Here
|
Entries (RSS News)
