June 13th, 2008
Chronic conditions break the bank
I have a chronic condition, incipient heart disease.
Like millions of other Americans I treat this with powerful drugs. Statins to lower cholesterol levels, an angiotensin II blocker for blood pressure, and time-release niacin to raise good cholesterol.
My out-of-pocket costs for these drugs is $840/year, although that’s just a fraction of their real cost. And my bill would be higher but my statin is now a generic.
There are a few other chronic conditions which also drive up the nation’s health bills. Diabetes is the biggest. Kidney disease requiring dialysis. Alzheimer’s.
What frustrates policy makers and wellness experts is that much of this is preventable. Maybe not my case, and maybe not yours, but many cases don’t have to happen. Eat right, exercise, stay slim and you may not get a chronic condition.
The question which every society must approach, now that we can control these chronic conditions, is what to do with people who ignore the warning signs, who choose to live in a way which makes a chronic condition inevitable.
England has sought to shame people into better behavior through BBC shows like You Are What You Eat. It’s very entertaining, but whether it works or not I don’t know.
In the U.S., with our private insurance based system, employers are trying both carrots and sticks. Wellness programs are carrots. Premium raises are sticks.
It’s common today for employers to raise your health premiums if you smoke, and maybe premiums for excess baggage will be next.
Everyone pays for chronic conditions, and we pay more because many cases are preventable. So what’s the solution?
Loading ...
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist since 1978, and has covered technology since 1982. He launched the Interactive Age Daily, the first daily coverage of the Internet to launch with a magazine, in September 1994. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
Subscribe to ZDNet Healthcare via Email alerts or RSS.
| 06/13/08
