<html><body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div>I heard a statistic yesterday that we pay 95% of healthcare costs in the last two years of our lives.</div><div><br>Sent from my iPhone</div><div><br>On Jul 27, 2009, at 11:08 PM, Ron Force <<a href="mailto:rforce2003@yahoo.com">rforce2003@yahoo.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><div></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div style="font-family:times new roman,new york,times,serif;font-size:12pt"><div>Unfortunately, chronic disease accounts for <span style="text-decoration: underline;">most</span> health care spending:<br></div><br>"What is surprising for many to learn is the degree to which the
rapid growth in chronic illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease,
cancer and arthritis, and related conditions such as obesity, are
driving cost increases — and the implications this has for our national
economy.<br><br>Today, nearly half of Americans suffer from one or more
chronic diseases, and treatment of chronically ill Americans accounts
for more than 75 percent of our nation’s healthcare spending. In
Medicare and Medicaid, spending rates on the chronically ill are even
higher: 96 percent and 83 percent of total spending, respectively."<br><span><a target="_blank" href="http://thehill.com/op-eds/chronic-diseases-overlooked--as-healthcare-cost-burden-2009-03-30.html"><a href="http://thehill.com/op-eds/chronic-diseases-overlooked--as-healthcare-cost-burden-2009-03-30.html">http://thehill.com/op-eds/chronic-diseases-overlooked--as-healthcare-cost-burden-2009-03-30.html</a></a></span><br><br>Ron Force<br>Moscow, ID USA<br><br></div><br>
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