We’ve known for a while that Medicare is collapsing, but a new report from the Medicare and Social Security trust fund indicates the timeline for Medicare’s go-broke date has been moved up three years from 2036 to 2033 — less than a decade away. One of the biggest contributors to the Medicare solvency crisis is chronic disease. The CDC estimates that diabetes is costing the US economy $413 billion this year, with Alzheimers at $360 billion and cancer at $240 billion. These are costs we are incurring now, with the costs set to escalate each year.
From last fall’s Ways and Means Health Subcommittee hearing on chronic disease,
- 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.
From our research for the Better Medicare Alliance, voters recognize the role that chronic disease plays in higher costs.
- Patients with chronic health conditions like diabetes and heart disease have higher health care costs than patients who do not have those conditions. (84-9 believe-do not believe)
- Voters understand the connection between better health and lower costs: The healthier that a person is, the less that person costs in the health care system, 73-18 believe-do not believe.
- By about 3:1, voters see the greater contributor to health care costs as health conditions that go untreated or undiagnosed and turn into serious illnesses (70%) rather than too many tests and treatments (23%).
As Congress confronts the nation’s fiscal crisis, addressing chronic disease must be a key part of the national strategy.
