Get latest headlines via RSS feeds
NewsVine
Del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Reddit
StumbleuponDisease prevention programs provide almost $6 return on investment by 2013
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Every dollar spent this year on disease-prevention programs in Ohio will pay a $5.99 return on investment in 2013, Trust for America's Health estimates in a new report.
Spending $10 per Ohioan on proven community-based programs to increase physical activity, improve nutrition and reduce tobacco use would lead to annual net savings of $795 million in five years, converting the report's findings to 2008 dollars. Employers and patients would save $503 million, and taxpayers the rest.
Savings estimates are for medical expenses only, and not for improvements in worker productivity and quality of life. The report, "Prevention for a Healthier America: Investments in Disease Prevention Yield Significant Savings, Stronger Communities," was released Thursday, July 17, on the Trust's Web site, www.healthyamericans.org.
The same per-person investment nationally would generate $19.2 billion in net savings — $10.9 billion of private money and $8.3 billion tax dollars — for a 5.6-to-1 return on investment.
The projected savings from such modest community-prevention spending is slightly less than 1 percent of total U.S. health care expenses, but McKinsey & Co. reported the average Fortune 500 company will spend as much on health care this year as it makes in profit, said president Andy Stern of the Service Employees International Union. "How can we possibly compete in the global marketplace with that kind of burden?"
Treating chronic diseases accounts for 70-75 percent of U.S. health care expenses. At more than 16 percent of gross national product, "Health care costs are crippling the U.S. economy," TFAH executive director Jeff Levi said. "Keeping Americans healthier is one of the most important but overlooked ways we could reduce these costs."
Many prevention programs costing less than $10 per person have lowered rates of diseases that are related to physical activity, nutrition and smoking, researchers at the Urban Institute and the New York Academy of Medicine found. They've knocked 5 percent off the rates of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, kidney disease and stroke within five years, and led to 2.5 percent reductions in arthritis, chronic lung disease and some cancers within 10 to 20 years.
Examples of such programs include keeping schools open after hours for supervised children's activity, providing access to fresh produce through farmers markets, making nutritious foods more affordable and accessible in low-income areas and providing more information and support for people who try to stop using tobacco.
Two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, and the rates for both smoking and physical inactivity are 1 in 5.
"Our nation needs a sustained investment in disease-prevention programs that keep people from becoming sick, not just more treatment for those who are already ill," said Dr. James S. Marks, director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's health group. The report shows that doing so "can help cut health care costs and ensure all Americans live longer and healthier lives."
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2129 or klamb@DaytonDailyNews.com.
