Chronic health problems

A new report, issued this week by the Milken Institute finds that "More than half of Americans suffer from one or more chronic diseases."

The report goes on to say,

Each year millions of people are diagnosed with chronic disease, and millions more die from their condition.

The most common chronic diseases are costing the economy more than $1 trillion annually — and that figure threatens to reach $6 trillion by the middle of the century.

Much of this cost is avoidable.

[The] failure to contain the containable is undermining prospects for extending health insurance coverage and for coping with the medical costs of an aging population.

While treatment outcomes and mortality have been improving, the rates of chronic disease are steadily increasing and, if left to grow unchecked, threaten to cancel out these gains.

All told, our analysis implies that modest reductions in avoidable factors—unhealthy behavior, environmental risks, and the failure to make modest gains in early detection and innovative treatment—will lead to 40 million fewer cases of illness and a gain of over $1 trillion annually in labor supply and efficiency by 2023.

The report looked specifically at the economic impacts of just the seven most common chronic illnesses: cancer, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, heart disease, pulmonary conditions, and mental disorders. It is thought provoking, because, as its authors say, much of the cost is avoidable: cleaning up the environment and reducing toxins is good for our health, and ultimately, good for the economy.