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Senior Citizen Health & Medicine
Seven Most Common Chronic Diseases Costing U.S. $1
Trillion, Headed to $6 Trillion
Senior citizens are Americans most often suffering
multiple chronic diseases
Oct. 3, 2007 - The annual economic impact on the
U.S. economy of the seven most common chronic diseases is calculated to
be more than $1 trillion, which could balloon to nearly $6 trillion by
the middle of the century. Yet the news is not entirely grim because
much of this cost is avoidable, according to the Milken Institute that
released the study yesterday, which also identifies obesity as enemy
number one.
Eighty percent of America's senior citizens, those aged 65 and older,
live with at least one chronic disease that could lead to premature
death and disability, according to a report released earlier this year
by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (See sidebar link)
This new report, “An Unhealthy America: The Economic Burden of
Chronic Disease,” brings to light for the first time what is often
overlooked in the discussion of the impact of chronic disease - the
economic loss associated with preventable illness and the cost to the
nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and American businesses in lost
growth.
“In every community in our country, people are
suffering from preventable chronic diseases. Not only does that
suffering affect our nation’s overall health — but also our nation’s
economic productivity,” said Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., FACS.
“With this new data from the Milken Institute, we
now know the cost burden of chronic disease in our nation, and it’s
truly staggering. If we are unable to reduce the rate of chronic
disease, the potential economic damage to our nation could be
devastating.
“For both the physical and economic health of our
country, we must bring together all sectors to find new, innovative, and
cost-effective ways to prevent chronic disease. Any funding that we
spend to prevent chronic disease today will actually be a valuable
investment — with long-term dividends.”
Dr. Carmona is Chairperson of the Partnership to
Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD), 17th U.S. Surgeon General (2002-2006), and
President of Canyon Ranch Institute.
According to the study, seven chronic diseases –
cancer, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, heart disease, pulmonary
conditions and mental illness – have a total impact on the economy of
$1.3 trillion annually. Of this amount, $1.1 trillion represents the
cost of lost productivity.
“By investing in good health, we can add billions
of dollars in economic growth in the coming decades,” said Ross DeVol,
Director of Health Economics and Regional Economics at the Milken
Institute and principal author of the report.
“The good news is that with moderate improvements
in prevention and early intervention such as reducing the rate of
obesity, the savings to the economy would be enormous.”
The study is the first of its kind to estimate the
avoidable costs if a serious effort were made to improve Americans’
health.
Assuming modest improvements in preventing and
treating disease, Milken Institute researchers determined that by 2023
the nation could avoid 40 million cases of chronic disease and reduce
the economic impact of chronic disease by 27 percent, or $1.1 trillion
annually.
They report that the most important factor is
obesity, which if rates declined could lead to $60 billion less in
treatment costs and $254 billion in increased productivity.
Looking even further ahead, the report measures the
possible cost to future generations if escalating disease leads to lower
investments in education and training. In a snowball effect, the report
warns, this loss of human capital and skill building could reduce the
nation’s economic output by as much as $5.7 trillion in real GDP by the
year 2050.
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| |
Chronic Disease - Seniors |
% |
|
|
|
Hypertension |
51.9 |
|
|
|
Doctor's diagnosis of
arthritis |
50.0 |
|
|
|
Chronic joint symptoms |
46.0 |
|
|
|
All types of heart disease |
31.8 |
|
|
|
Coronary heart disease |
21.4 |
|
|
|
Any cancer |
20.7 |
|
|
|
Diabetes |
16.9 |
|
Chronic Diseases are Leading Causes of Death among
Senior Citizens
Heart disease and cancer remain top killers of
older Americans
August 7, 2006 - Heart disease and cancer have been the two leading
causes of death for senior citizens - persons 65 years of age and older
- for the past two decades, accounting for nearly a million deaths in
2002, according to the National Center for Health Statistics of the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Here is a quick look at
chronic disease among senior citizens and more about the causes of their
deaths.
Read
more...
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In addition to providing national numbers, the
report ranks all 50 states by the reported number of these diseases per
capita. According to the Milken Institute State Chronic Disease Index,
West Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky and Mississippi have the
highest rates of chronic disease . Those with the lowest rates are in
the West: Utah, Alaska, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.
To reduce the human and economic cost of disease,
the Milken Institute calls for:
● More incentives to promote prevention and early
intervention, and;
● A renewed national commitment to achieve a
“healthy body weight.”
“Today, most of the national policy discussion on
health care is about financing mechanisms. This Milken Institute study
suggests that the urgent need to act now to reduce the amount of
preventable illness as the country ages deserves equal focus,” said Ken
Thorpe, Ph.D., Executive Director, Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease
and Professor and Chair, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory
University.
The report was created by researchers from the
Milken Institute and was supported with a grant from the Pharmaceutical
Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), both of whom are partners
in the PFCD.
“This study is a call to action. It’s time for
Americans to call for a change in how we effectively fight chronic
disease. Chronic disease is a crucial driver of health-care costs, and
its rates are rising. We need to reverse this trend and we need to do it
now. It’s common sense,” says PhRMA president and CEO Billy Tauzin.
The full report is available on
www.milkeninstitute.organd
www.fightchronicdisease.org. An interactive web site with complete
national- and state-level data for each of the chronic diseases is
available at
http://www.chronicdiseaseimpact.com.
About The Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease: The
Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease is a national coalition of
patients, providers, community organizations, business and labor groups,
and health policy experts committed to raising awareness of the number
one cause of death, disability, and rising health care costs in the
U.S.: chronic disease.
About the Institute: The Milken Institute is a
nonprofit, independent economic think tank whose mission is to improve
the lives and economic conditions of diverse populations around the
world by helping business and public policy leaders identify and
implement innovative ideas for creating broad-based prosperity. It is
based in Santa Monica, CA. (www.milkeninstitute.org)
Addtional Information from KaiserNetwork's Daily
Report
Chronic Disease Cost Could Reach $6
Trillion by 2050
The cost to the U.S. economy of treatment and lost
productivity caused by chronic illnesses among U.S. residents is more
than $1.3 trillion per year, and if current trends are not reversed,
costs could reach $6 trillion by 2050, according to a report released
Tuesday by the
Milken Institute, the
San Francisco Chronicle reports (Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle,
10/3). The report found the cost of treating seven common chronic
illnesses -- cancer, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, heart disease,
pulmonary conditions and mental illness, which together affect a total
of 109 million U.S. residents -- is at least $277 billion per year.
The cost of lost productivity amounts to about $1.1
trillion (Kivlan, CongressDaily, 10/3). Economic losses generated by
caregivers are included in the productivity deficit (San Francisco
Chronicle, 10/3).
The report also addresses the costs of "presenteeism,"
which occurs when an employee comes to work but performs at a
lower-than-expected level because of a chronic condition. The cost of
presenteeism accounts for about 79.1% of total estimated productivity
loss stemming from chronic conditions, according to the report.
The report calls for a plan that would promote
prevention and early intervention by providing incentives to health care
providers. It also calls for reduced use of tobacco products and abuse
of alcohol (Bloedorn,
CQ HealthBeat, 10/2). Reversing current trends through prevention
and early detection efforts would curb much of the treatment and
productivity losses, according to the report, which does not provide a
figure for the cost of such programs, according to the
Los Angeles Times (Girion, Los Angeles Times, 10/3).
The report sets a target of reducing the nation's
obesity rate from its current level of 23% to 1998 levels of 19% over
the next 10 years. Doing so would prevent nearly 15 million illnesses
and cut medical costs by about $60 billion, in addition to increasing
productivity by about $250 billion by 2023, according to the report.
Obesity levels are projected to reach 29% by 2023 under current trends.
The report also targets smoking, with a goal of reducing smoking rates
from about 22% to 15% nationwide, which would produce an estimated
savings of $30 billion in treatment and about $80 billion in
productivity (Lipman,
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 10/3).
Comments
The Milken Institute is part of a larger coalition
of 87 medical groups, businesses and pharmaceutical companies that is
pushing for detection and prevention efforts to receive more attention
in the national health care debate, the
New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. The report states, "The current
health care debate rightly focuses on the extension of coverage to the
uninsured and the design of a financing mechanism that is both fair and
efficient. We suggest that the nature of services provided -- the
failure to invest in prevention and early intervention -- deserves equal
place in the debate" (Walsh, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 10/3).
Former Surgeon General Richard Carmona -- chair of
the
Partnership to Fight Chronic Diseases -- said, "It's truly
staggering. If we are unable to reduce the rate of chronic disease, the
potential economic damage to our nation could be devastating" (Los
Angeles Times, 10/3).
Ross DeVol, director of regional economics for the
Milken Institute and principle author of the report, said, "By investing
in good health, we can add billions of dollars in economic growth in the
coming decades," adding, "With moderate improvements in prevention and
early intervention, such as reducing the rate of obesity, the savings to
the economy would be enormous" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 10/3).
>> The report is available
online.
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