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More Americans are Sick with Multiple Chronic Illnesses
- Jan 23, 2009 at 12:09 AM
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More Americans are Sick with Multiple Chronic Illnesses
Thursday, January 22, 2009 by: Jo Hartley, citizen journalist
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Key concepts: America, Health and Diabetes
(NaturalNews) A recent study released reveals that more Americans are
suffering chronic illnesses today than ever before. In fact, it is
common for American people to be burdened by more than three chronic
illnesses simultaneously.
This situation has contributed to a
significant increase in out-of-pocket medical expenditures for many
Americans because prescription drugs are often not completely covered
by health insurance policies. The average annual out-of-pocket expense
increased from $427 per American in 1996 to $741 in 2005. After
adjusting for inflation, this is a 39% increase in this type of
spending per person over that period of time.
Unfortunately, these expenditures are significantly higher for the elderly.
An elderly person insured through Medicare with three or more chronic
illnesses pays an average of $2,588 in out-of-pocket medical expenses.
According
to government survey data, 44 percent of Americans had at least one
chronic medical condition in 2005. This includes high cholesterol,
cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, heart disease, and other conditions. In 1996 the percentage was 41.
The
study did not examine causes for the increase, but there are several
obvious factors that are contributing to the overall decline in the health of Americans.
The sedentary lifestyle and processed-food diets of many Americans and the resulting increase in obesity
are becoming more and more prevalent. Obesity is directly related to
many chronic illnesses, including diabetes. New diabetes cases have
increased among Americans by approximately 90 % over the last ten years.
The
most troubling increase, however, was the increase in the number of
Americans with three or more chronic diseases. This figure rose from 13
percent in 1996 to 22 percent in 2005 for Americans between the ages of
45 and 64. For Americans ages 65 to 79 the increase rose to 45 percent
and for Americans over 80 the figure rose from 38 percent to 54
percent. For all ages combined the figure was 7 percent in 1996 and
rose to 13 percent in 2005.
The management of these chronic illnesses in America consumes 75 percent of over $2 trillion spent annually on health care in the United States.
Of
note is that the increase in the incidence of chronic illness is not
just among the oldest age groups. The middle age and early old age
groups have also increased and these figures are not dependent on race,
sex, ethnicity, or income levels.
These report results are based
on nationally representative surveys of approximately 32,000 Americans
in 2005 and approximately 22,000 Americans in 1996.
President-elect
Obama has plans to try to solve the rising costs of the flawed US
health care system. His efforts will certainly be complicated by the
unfortunate declining state of health of many Americans.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/news...
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