The cost of healthcare in the United States (US) continues to ballon, placing great stress on our nation's economy. The McKinsey Global Institute reports that the US spent $2.3 trillion or $7600 per individual on health care in 2007. This represents 16% of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), up from 5.2% in 1960. Though it is typical for countries to spend more for health care as prosperity increases, no other developed country dispenses as much for health care as the US. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Canada, France, Germany and Switzerland all spend less than 11% of their GDP on health care. It is estimated that the US spends $480 billion above peer countries on health care.
In 2005, the overall life expectancy in the US was 77.8 years, up from 47.3 years in 1900. There is a common misconception that this increase is the result of high quality health care. Undoubtedly we should be grateful for many technological advances that have saved innumerable lives. However, the fact is that life expectancy has increased largely because of public health programs and effective vaccines that reduced the spread of communicable disease. Such diseases accounted for 30.4% of all deaths in 1900 and largely impacted infants and children under 5 years of age.
It is quite astonishing to contrast the leading causes of death just a century ago with those of modern day life. Today, the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the US are heart disease, cancer, stroke and type 2 diabetes....diseases which can often be prevented with proper diet and lifestyle.
The US has a much higher rate of obesity than other countries...often more than twice that of other countries. Furthermore, the US has a much higher rate of preventable deaths than that of comparable countries. According to OECD, the US had the highest age-adjusted amenable mortality rate of 19 countries studied in 2002. The age-adjusted amenable mortality rate refers to deaths that occur in individulas under 75 years of age, that theoretically could be prevented or treated e.g. infectious bacterial disease, certain types of cancer, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascualr disease, stroke, some forms of ischemic heart disease as well as complications from surgical procedures. .
Rising costs of health care creates a tremendous stress on our government, businesses and individual citizens. According to a researchers at Harvard University, half of all bankruptcy filings were partially the result of unmanageable medical expenses.
There are no quick fixes for this very complex problem. Control of excessive spending on health care requires a multifaceted approach. Aside from addressing important administrative changes, more focus should be placed on preventative care. Health care providers as well as concerned citizens need to be proactive, educating and encouraging local representatives to promote programs and pass legislature that encourage health and wellness.
Readers are encouraged to post helpful ideas and suggestions that can be shared with legislators, community leaders and educators, for the purpose of addressing the health of our citizens and/or curtailing unnecessary spending. Please become proactive and contact your local representative. For more information about contacting your local legislators, please visit: www.usa.gov or www.congress.org . Working together, we can impart the change we need.
Below are some suggestions:
In 2005, the overall life expectancy in the US was 77.8 years, up from 47.3 years in 1900. There is a common misconception that this increase is the result of high quality health care. Undoubtedly we should be grateful for many technological advances that have saved innumerable lives. However, the fact is that life expectancy has increased largely because of public health programs and effective vaccines that reduced the spread of communicable disease. Such diseases accounted for 30.4% of all deaths in 1900 and largely impacted infants and children under 5 years of age.
It is quite astonishing to contrast the leading causes of death just a century ago with those of modern day life. Today, the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the US are heart disease, cancer, stroke and type 2 diabetes....diseases which can often be prevented with proper diet and lifestyle.
The US has a much higher rate of obesity than other countries...often more than twice that of other countries. Furthermore, the US has a much higher rate of preventable deaths than that of comparable countries. According to OECD, the US had the highest age-adjusted amenable mortality rate of 19 countries studied in 2002. The age-adjusted amenable mortality rate refers to deaths that occur in individulas under 75 years of age, that theoretically could be prevented or treated e.g. infectious bacterial disease, certain types of cancer, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascualr disease, stroke, some forms of ischemic heart disease as well as complications from surgical procedures. .
Rising costs of health care creates a tremendous stress on our government, businesses and individual citizens. According to a researchers at Harvard University, half of all bankruptcy filings were partially the result of unmanageable medical expenses.
There are no quick fixes for this very complex problem. Control of excessive spending on health care requires a multifaceted approach. Aside from addressing important administrative changes, more focus should be placed on preventative care. Health care providers as well as concerned citizens need to be proactive, educating and encouraging local representatives to promote programs and pass legislature that encourage health and wellness.
Readers are encouraged to post helpful ideas and suggestions that can be shared with legislators, community leaders and educators, for the purpose of addressing the health of our citizens and/or curtailing unnecessary spending. Please become proactive and contact your local representative. For more information about contacting your local legislators, please visit: www.usa.gov or www.congress.org . Working together, we can impart the change we need.
Below are some suggestions:
*Nutritional Education: beginning with early childhood education
and continuing throughout the educational process
*Creative programs by employers and insurers, which provide incentives to those, who take more responsibility for their own health and wellness.
*School lunch programs: reinforce healthy habits by eliminating foods that do not promote wellness. Ascertain that schools are not swayed by manufacturer’s to carry unhealthy products (soft drink companies, etc.)
and continuing throughout the educational process
*Creative programs by employers and insurers, which provide incentives to those, who take more responsibility for their own health and wellness.
*School lunch programs: reinforce healthy habits by eliminating foods that do not promote wellness. Ascertain that schools are not swayed by manufacturer’s to carry unhealthy products (soft drink companies, etc.)
*Be a good citizen. Ask yourself: How much do I cost my country vs. how much do I give? Be willing to take good care of yourself, such that you don't add to the excessive money spent on healthcare. Be careful about criticizing governmental officials before first taking your own personal inventory.
*Symposiums held between practitioners of conventional medicine and the very best practitioners of Chinese medicine, well versed in integrative medicine, for the purpose of establishing new criteria in patient care. The emphasis should be for all practitioners to always first address health issues with the most conservative treatment available.
*Higher responsibility and accountability required by food manufacturer’s. The American diet has taken a dramatic turn for the worse in the past century. Highly processed foods, including refined carbohydrates, high-fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils have flooded the market and have been associated with obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some forms of cancer.
*Development of more holistic programs, designed to address the deeper psycho-spiritual-emotional issues underlying many unhealthy habits and disease processes. Today, over one third of U.S. citizens are turning to unconventional medicine. Often times alternative practitioner’s take more time to listen and address the whole person. Many times they are able to offer simple, safe and cost-effective treatments, avoiding more invasive and costly treatment options.
*Changes should be made in the way in which physicians are trained. We suggest that more nurse practitioner's be trained in holistic and complimentary methods, which can fill the void of the current shortage of general practitioners.
*Promotion of local farming. Not only will this make more healthy food available, it will cut down on the high cost of transporting food. Perhaps some bank held properties could be subsidized and utilized by unemployed citizens for this purpose. Imagine if each neighborhood had a lot devoted to growing fresh produce! Furthermore, schools could promote local farming as part of their curriculum to those interested.
Angisano, C., Farrell, D., Kocher, B., Laboissiere, M., Parker, S.
Accounting for the Cost of Health Care in the United States, 1-17. McKinsey
Global Institute (2007). Retrieved December 5, 2008 from
http:// www.mckinsey.com/mgi/rp/healthcare/accounting_cost_healthcare.asp.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Achievements in Public Health,
1900-1999:Control of Infectious Diseases. Retrieved December 8, 2008 from
mm48429 a 1 htm.
Gaudet, T. Integrative Medicine: The Evolution of a New Approach to Medicine and
to Medical Education. Integrative Med 1 (2), 67-73 Retrieved December 5, 2008
from http://www.dukeintegrativemedicine.org/pdfs/New_Approach.pdf.
Johansson, K. et al. Can sensory stimulation improve the functional outcome in
stroke patients?, Neurology (1994) 43:2189-2192.
Kung, H., Hoyert, D., Xu, J., Murphy, S. Deaths: Final Data for 2005: National Vital
Statistics Reports (2008) , 56 (10), 1-2. Retrieved December 2, 2008 from
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr56/nvsr56_10.PDF
Lee, G., Li, L., Ford, E., Liu, S. Increased consumption of refined carbohydrates
and the epidemic of type 2 diabetes in the United States: an ecologic
assessment. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2004) 79 (No5), 774-779.
Retrieved December 4, 2008, from http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/79/5/774
National Coalition on Health Care. Facts on Health Care Costs.(2008) Retrieved
December 5, 2008 from http://www.nchc.org/facts/cost.shtml.
Reinhardt, U. (Why Does U.S. Health Care Cost So Much? Part 1 (2008)
The New York Times. Retrieved December 5, 2008 from
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/14why-does-us-health-care-cost-
so-much-part-I.
United Health Foundations. America's Health Rankings: Comparison to Other
Nations. Retrieved December 26, 2008 from other nations. html.
*Symposiums held between practitioners of conventional medicine and the very best practitioners of Chinese medicine, well versed in integrative medicine, for the purpose of establishing new criteria in patient care. The emphasis should be for all practitioners to always first address health issues with the most conservative treatment available.
*Higher responsibility and accountability required by food manufacturer’s. The American diet has taken a dramatic turn for the worse in the past century. Highly processed foods, including refined carbohydrates, high-fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils have flooded the market and have been associated with obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some forms of cancer.
*Development of more holistic programs, designed to address the deeper psycho-spiritual-emotional issues underlying many unhealthy habits and disease processes. Today, over one third of U.S. citizens are turning to unconventional medicine. Often times alternative practitioner’s take more time to listen and address the whole person. Many times they are able to offer simple, safe and cost-effective treatments, avoiding more invasive and costly treatment options.
*Changes should be made in the way in which physicians are trained. We suggest that more nurse practitioner's be trained in holistic and complimentary methods, which can fill the void of the current shortage of general practitioners.
*Promotion of local farming. Not only will this make more healthy food available, it will cut down on the high cost of transporting food. Perhaps some bank held properties could be subsidized and utilized by unemployed citizens for this purpose. Imagine if each neighborhood had a lot devoted to growing fresh produce! Furthermore, schools could promote local farming as part of their curriculum to those interested.
Angisano, C., Farrell, D., Kocher, B., Laboissiere, M., Parker, S.
Accounting for the Cost of Health Care in the United States, 1-17. McKinsey
Global Institute (2007). Retrieved December 5, 2008 from
http:// www.mckinsey.com/mgi/rp/healthcare/accounting_cost_healthcare.asp.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Achievements in Public Health,
1900-1999:Control of Infectious Diseases. Retrieved December 8, 2008 from
mm48429 a 1 htm.
Gaudet, T. Integrative Medicine: The Evolution of a New Approach to Medicine and
to Medical Education. Integrative Med 1 (2), 67-73 Retrieved December 5, 2008
from http://www.dukeintegrativemedicine.org/pdfs/New_Approach.pdf.
Johansson, K. et al. Can sensory stimulation improve the functional outcome in
stroke patients?, Neurology (1994) 43:2189-2192.
Kung, H., Hoyert, D., Xu, J., Murphy, S. Deaths: Final Data for 2005: National Vital
Statistics Reports (2008) , 56 (10), 1-2. Retrieved December 2, 2008 from
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr56/nvsr56_10.PDF
Lee, G., Li, L., Ford, E., Liu, S. Increased consumption of refined carbohydrates
and the epidemic of type 2 diabetes in the United States: an ecologic
assessment. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2004) 79 (No5), 774-779.
Retrieved December 4, 2008, from http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/79/5/774
National Coalition on Health Care. Facts on Health Care Costs.(2008) Retrieved
December 5, 2008 from http://www.nchc.org/facts/cost.shtml.
Reinhardt, U. (Why Does U.S. Health Care Cost So Much? Part 1 (2008)
The New York Times. Retrieved December 5, 2008 from
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/14why-does-us-health-care-cost-
so-much-part-I.
United Health Foundations. America's Health Rankings: Comparison to Other
Nations. Retrieved December 26, 2008 from other nations. html.
Alarming Healthcare Statistics
