Bloomberg News (1/25, Cortez) reports that "the medical bill for Americans with heart disease is expected to triple in the next two decades, increasing to $818 billion in 2030 as the population ages, according to the American Heart Association." The increasing "expense includes only the price of treatment, not the cost of lost time and productivity as patients and their partners miss work or other tasks, a policy paper published today in the association's medical journal Circulation concluded." Currently, "heart disease...costs $273 billion a year in the US, or about 17 percent of the nation's medical spending."
The CNN (1/24, Henry) "The Chart" blog reported that "researchers looked at the current rates of disease as well as census data and projected population shifts in age and race. The study found with the anticipated rise of the Hispanic population in the United States, prevention programs have to be designed in multiple ways."
CQ HealthBeat (1/25, Ferguson, subscription required) reports that "the projection of illness and cost assumes little change in national health policy and factors, such as diabetes and obesity, that contribute to cardiovascular conditions. It also does not make any assumptions about the effect of prevention sections in the health care law...which the Republican House has voted to repeal." The Hill (1/24, Millman) "Healthwatch" blog, Reuters (1/25), WebMD (1/24, Hendrick), and HealthDay (1/24, Reinberg) also covered the story.
POSTED BY STEVEN ALMANY, MD
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