about healthcare costs:
Rates of chronic
disease have never
been higher, with
cost of chronic
conditions eating up
of all healthcare dollars spent.
Chronic disease is so common that more than half of US adults have at least one condition, accounting for
90%of all healthcare dollars spent.
The US spends
GDP
(thats $3.35 trillion!)
on health expenditures, but the Federal Congressional Budget office estimates that if costs continue to rise, by 2050 Medicaid and Medicare alone will account for 20% of the GDP.
the solvency of our nation is at stake.
All projections point to continued rises in chronic disease.
If we dont reverse this trend, the number of people
with three or more conditions is expected to increase
to 83 million by 2030, with a total cost of over
$42 trillion.
The top five chronic conditions cost
employers a total of $11.2 billion
(obesity), $10.3 billion (hypertension)
$9.1 billion (physical inactivity),
$3.6 billion (current smoking),
and $2.2 billion (diabetes).
Thats a total of
$36.4billion
leaving the bottom line.
In 1958, 1.6mil Americans had type
2 diabetes. Today, estimates are that
approximately 23mil have been
diagnosed with the disease, and as
many as 84mil are pre-diabetic.
The total cost of diagnosed
diabetes is $245 billion, including
$176 billion in direct medical
costs and $69 billion in
decreased productivity.
Yet, it's a food-borne illness that's preventable, treatable and,
often, reversible through lifestyle medicine.