Rich_by_the_Bay
Moderator Emeritus
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Health Care Expenditures[/SIZE][/FONT]
- [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Preventable illness makes up approximately 80% of the burden of illness and 90% of all healthcare costs.[/SIZE][/FONT]
Don't take my word for it, Google around for yourself...
- [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Preventable illnesses account for eight of the nine leading categories of death.[/SIZE][/FONT]
I'm with you as to the importance of lifestyle choices on outcomes, but the above figures are misleading in this context. A healthy life is a long life with life-threatening and ultimately fatal illnesses compressed into the final years. There seems to be a biologic clock that runs out sooner or later. So-called preventable illness can often be avoided so the human organism can live to its natural finale.
Failure to prevent many of these illnesses may lead to premature death, but not prevention of death. In the end, such preventable illnesses probably have less net cost to society than commonly assumed. A preventable heart attack at age 50 is fatal before the patient gets to the hospital 50% of the time. Doesn't cost a penny to society. Sure would be great to have prevented it but its tragedy is more personal than financial. It's hard to know.