Dive Brief:
-
A new Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease report found that chronic disease will cost the U.S. $42 trillion between 2016 and 2030, including $2 trillion in medical costs.
-
The report predicts there will be 83 million Americans with three or more chronic diseases by 2030 unless there are health improvements. In 2015, there were about 31 million people in the U.S. with three or more chronic diseases.
-
About 59% of the U.S. population has one or more chronic diseases.
Dive Insight:
Chronic disease drives U.S. healthcare spending. In fact, the report noted that 5% of people account for 50% of healthcare spending.
The annual cost of someone with five or more chronic diseases is $45,000 annually. People with five or more chronic diseases account for 12% of the population, but 41% of healthcare costs, according to the report.
The report said the most common types of chronic disease in 2014 were hypertension and lipid disorders like high cholesterol. One in four Americans have hypertension and one in five have high cholesterol. Hypertension increased the most for men between 2008 and 2014, and anxiety disorders increased the most for women in that period.
The Affordable Care Act improved coverage access, but did little on the issue of cost containment. This new report shows that healthcare costs will continue to rise partly because of skyrocketing chronic diseases.
The House approved the American Health Care Act in early May, but that proposal doesn't tackle the issue of chronic illness. In fact, by cutting Medicaid, the bill may actually exacerbate the problem.
Coupled with the health challenges of the large aging population, chronic health costs will be a major financial issue that lawmakers so far have done little to address. Without improvement, healthcare costs will become an even bigger issue for Americans and programs like Medicare and Medicaid.