Impact Of Chronic Disease on America

A new study released from the Milken Institute called, "An Unhealthy America: The Economic Burden of Chronic Disease," says that chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension costs the U.S. economy more than $1 trillion, and could reach nearly $6 trillion by the middle of the century. Most of that total was a result of lost work days and reduced job productivity. The study recommends that "employers, insurers, governments, and communities work together to develop incentives for patients and health care providers to focus on disease prevention." Seniors and the senior healthcare system are particularly impacted by chronic disease. Over 162 million cases of seven common chronic diseases - cancers, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, stroke, mental disorders, and pulmonary conditions - were reported in the United States in 2003.

Health Care Cost and Access Challenges Persist Across the Country

Little has changed in local health care markets since 2005 to break the cycle of rising costs, declining insurance coverage and widening access inequities, according to initial findings from HSC's 2007 site visits to 12 nationally representative metropolitan communities. Two years ago, HSC researchers identified several troubling trends warning of growing cost and access problems, including a hospital building boom; intense competition among hospitals and physicians to expand profitable specialty services; growing stress on community safety nets; and few cost-control strategies on the part of employers and health plans. For the most part, those trends continued into 2007, although employers and health plans have stepped up efforts to engage consumers and the hospital building boom appears to have abated somewhat.

Issue Brief No. 114

Long Term Uninsured Continues to Grow

An estimated 17.4 million Americans under age 65 were uninsured for the entire four-year period from 2002 to 2005, according to a new report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. About one-fourth of them were poor, living at or below the federal poverty level, and almost one-third were middle income, in families earning between 200% and 400% of the FPL. Hispanics and those reporting fair or poor health were among those most likely to be uninsured