The Power of Prevention

The Center for Disease Control's publication on the Power of Prevention is, well... powerful.  With the U.S. healthcare's pricetag now over $2.1 trillion dollars and an estimated 90% of those costs are preventable, it becomes even more important for health educators to direct effective messages and programs towards helping people live longer lives with less diseases and illnesses.  

Here are some numbers (although some are a bit outdated)drawn from the publication:

The Chronic Disease Price Tag— 

Estimated Annual Direct Medical Expenditures 

Cardiovascular disease and stroke...... $313.8 billion in 2009

Cancer.....  $89.0 billion in 2007

Smoking.....  $96 billion in 2004 

Diabetes.....  $116 billion in 2007

Arthritis.....  $80.8 billion in 2003

Obesity.....  $61 billion in 2000*

*According to one research paper, the cost of obesity in 2008 is now $113.9 billion.  In that same paper, the per person medical cost of obesity in that year was $1723.  

When people ask me what the government should do to bolster the economy, I point to these numbers and tell them that the stimulus package starts with what you eat and your physical activity.