Congress is debating health care and how to bend the cost curve on Medicare and Medicaid. Last fall, there was a very interesting hearing in the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee about chronic disease. Witnesses included functional medicine pioneer and MAHA thought leader Dr. Mark Hyman, and former Senate Majority Leader Dr. Bill Frist. Here are some important statements lawmakers raised during that hearing:
75% of Medicare funds are spent on 40% of beneficiaries who have been diagnosed with 4+ chronic conditions.
129 million Americans have at least one chronic disease. Nearly 90% of the 4.1 trillion America annually spends on health care goes to treat chronic disease.
Over the next 10 years, obesity may add an additional 9.1 trillion in health care costs.
Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (PA) clarified the critical question that lawmakers must start considering for priorities in federal health care spending: What can Congress do to incentivize outcomes related to healthier living rather than a reimbursement model?
Congress must continue to find savings in the current system, but do more to incentivize better health outcomes. Lawmakers tend to view health care as an accounting problem, not in terms of health. In his testimony, Dr. Bill Frist reminded everyone that health care is not health.
With costs of chronic disease reaching astronomical levels, there must be a national strategy to start moving the nation towards healthier living, not only for the future of Medicare and Medicaid but for the nation’s fiscal health.
For more from the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee hearing on chronic disease, see this link.