Category Archives: Cost of healthcare in the U.S.

Millennial’s and women poor health ensures risin​​g healthcare costs

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  • The Blue Cross Blue Shield, The Health of America Report® examined the health of millennials.
  • Millennials (ages 34-36) had a Health Index of 93.8 in 2017.
  • 43 million women have heart disease – more than HALF do not do exercise to offset the disease.
  • 61 percent of the 43 million women with heart disease weren’t meeting the physical activity guidelines recommended by the American Heart Association (AHA).
  •  Healthcare costs were about $4,000 more for women who weren’t exercising compared to those who were.  
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Only about half of Americans are aware of the link between excess weight and cancer

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Implementing FDA added sugar labeling policy could generate substantial health gains and cost savings for the US population.

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Between 2018 and 2037, a sugar label would prevent 354,400 cardiovascular disease and 599,300 diabetes mellitus cases, gain 727,000 quality-adjusted life-years, and save $31 billion in net healthcare costs or $61.9 billion in societal costs (incorporating reduced lost productivity and informal care costs). Source

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It’s hard, I mean really hard, to defend big pharma

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  • Big Pharma is evading culpability for the crisis of rising prescription drug prices by point the finger at others, namely pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs).
  • Many drugs receive no rebates at all, including 89 percent of Medicare Part D prescriptions. For new drugs, where the price tag can run into the hundreds of thousands a year, rebates are rarely offered because there is no direct competition in the space.
  • Putting profits before people is what big Pharma does. Brand name drug makers have hiked the prices of their products at 10 times the rate of inflation over the last five years. 
  • Drugmakers historically have blamed higher prices on the costs of research and development but didn’t use and of the $7 billion tax benefit to increase R&D.
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Pharma steps in it as blame game continues

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  • Pharmacy benefit managers said rebates paid by drug companies to PBMs, sometimes called “middlemen,” are “not secret or hidden payments” 
  • Executives blamed high drug prices on the drugmakers and their pursuit of profits. 
  • U.S. Healthcare Spending Reaches $420M Per Hour, On Track to Hit $12 Trillion by 2040.
  • 62 health care CEOs made a combined $1.1 billion in 2018 when calculating the actual value of cashed-out stock.
  • In the meantime Republicans are warning drug companies not to cooperate with probes into drug pricing.
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Healthcare cost crisis ignores prevention as a ke​y driver

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  • The United States currently spends more than $420 million per hour on healthcare, a number that is increasing by the minute and is expected to top $12 trillion in 2040, according to HealthCostCrisis.org
  • The U.S. currently spends about twice as much as what other high-income nations do on healthcare — more than $3.6 trillion in 2018, according to the latest estimates from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
  • Despite the higher spending, the U.S. consistently ranks near the bottom on major health indices such as life expectancy and infant mortality.
  • Health spending per person is growing  2X faster than household income driving more than 57 million Americans to cut back household spending to pay for healthcare or medicine.
  • The focus on healthcare spending continues to be cost but very little is said about prevention.
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