“More than 90 percent of Medicare dollars are spent
treating people with chronic disease … Prevention lowers the
disease burden. Prevention lowers cost.”
— U.S. Sen. Bill Frist, addressing the Detroit
Economic Club. Citing one out of five Medicare patients as having
diabetes, Frist said helping them manage their disease could help
the government reduce health care costs for those patients by 30
percent. He also suggested reforms including starting chronic
disease management programs, having Americans take part in their
own health care choices and improving medical information
technology.
Source: Detroit Free Press
“Life expectancy is going to grow significantly, and
current policies are going to be proven totally
inadequate.”
— Paul Hodge, director of the Harvard Generations Policy
Program. Hodge, who met with a group of scientists at Oxford
University for a conference on life extension and enhancement
recently, said governments around the world — struggling with
pension crises, graying workforces and rising health care costs
— have to face up to the challenge now.
Source: Reuters
43.1% of nonelderly adults in 2003 lived in families with out-of-pocket expenditures on health care and health insurance premiums exceeding $2,000.
Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
19.7% The percentage of Americans age 65 and older who had a disability in 1999, down from 26.2 percent in 1982.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
90% of seniors who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid say they have experienced no problems using Medicare's new prescription drug benefit.
Source: America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP)
26 The number of pounds a person drinking one 20-ounce bottle of regular soda a day can gain in weight per year.
Source: Public Health Institute
