What is Driving Your Healthcare Costs?

 

The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine recently published
its summary of the enormous challenges faced by the American health care system and employers (References below):

• Chronic health conditions are on the rise across all age groups in the United States, and it is expected that in the near future, conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer will add an enormous burden to already high costs of health care. Employers will be particularly impacted as they provide medical benefits for employees and absorb the costs of absenteeism and of long- and short-term disability claims.
• Nearly 50% of Americans have one chronic health condition and of this group, nearly half have multiple chronic conditions.2 
• One study found that more than 80% of medical spending goes toward care for chronic conditions.
• Health risks leading to chronic conditions are also on the rise. Ac- cording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2007, only one state (Colorado) had a risks were double the costs of individuals who were healthier, that is, had two or fewer health risks
• A 2001 study found that annual medical claims’ costs for people with five or more health were double the costs of individuals who were healthier, that is, had two or fewer health risks.
• American workforce is aging, and it is projected that between 2006 and 2016, the number of workers 55 to 64 years of age will increase by 36.5%, while workers between 65 and 74 years of age and older than 75 years will increase by 80%.
• By 2015, one in every five workers will be 55 years of age or older. 
• Older workers typically suffer from chronic health conditions and have multiple health risks. The chronic conditions most common among older age groups often require more care, are more disabling, and are more difficult and costly to treat than the chronic conditions that are more common in younger age groups.