Essay On Long Term Disease Cost
Long-Term Disease Cost
Disease in the world is always on the rise. There is always a “new flu” out or another shot added on your list of what you don't want to get. Health care is, and always will be the number one focus in the world. People are always getting sick, and we are constantly on the search for cures. Although, one thing people forget to realize, is how much all this adds up to be. When you are diagnosed with a long-term disease, there is no easy way around medical bills, and hospital visits, or even prescription pick-ups. People lack the knowledge of how expensive sickness in the world really is. Health insurance is so important in the world but does insurance support us as much as they should? First we have to understand what …show more content…
exactly we are talking about when we say the word, “disease”. What exactly is a Chronic Disease? According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), A Chronic Disease is a long-term condition that can be maintained, but not cured. One chronic disease that is an issue in the world today, and has been for many years, is a disease called “Alzheimer’s”. Alzheimer disease is a brain disorder. This disease kills your memory and breaks down your thinking skills to a point where even trying to finish a simple task may seem impossible. This sickness is usually sprung on someone in his or her mid-60s. Keep in mind, this awful disease has a lot to do with genetics, and is generally in the family. Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death, and is still unknown to doctors and researchers on what exactly causes such a thing. Some statistics on Alzheimer’s and the age range are shown below,
Alzheimer’s has many complications behind it, and they aren’t always surfaced to the public. According to the Alzheimer’s Association the direct cost for caring someone with Alzheimer’s was nearly 200 billion dollars (Calsou, 2012). Most people with Alzheimer’s disease usually develop other sicknesses, as they get older, because of this, Medicare costs for assisting someone with Alzheimer’s and another type of dementia triples in cost. If you think that's a lot it doesn't stop yet, Medicaid spends nineteen times more. Just those facts make people who don't quiet understand this as much think how impossible this really seems. Keep in mind, that was way back in 2012, making it only higher numbers by now. Sources such as Calsou say in 2050, the predictions for the cost of maintaining Alzheimer’s will be up to 1.1 trillion dollars.
Table one shows the average annual spending with Medicare per person.
Numbers shown on chart credit information: act.alz.org
Table two shows the average annual spending with Medicaid per person. Numbers shown on chart credit information: act.alz.org
The two comparison charts shown above are stats taken from the Alzheimer’s Association in 2015, but not from 2012. Those numbers were listed in February of 2015. Numbers are only increasing year by year, and the economy can’t keep up. Predictions for the years to come are scary to look at. Many outsiders interested in the treatment and care of Alzheimer’s have been fighting this issue for years now. It seems like health care isn’t involved enough, and others may think health care is too involved in giving money towards this disease. Regardless of the issue, Alzheimer’s is only going to get worse.
This problem is not going away. In fact, according to the graph below with numbers taken from the Alzheimer Association, the cost is projected to top 700 billion dollars by 2050.
Alzheimer’s Prevalence and Costs to Medicare and Medicaid Numbers shown on chart credit information: act.alz.org
After researching a little closer into the long-term disease cost of Alzheimer’s, I think its safe to say there is still so much research that needs to go into a disease so severe. Every article reviewed continuously mentioned how bad they predict this disease to become. Many websites and articles circled around the numbers listed in the charts above, everything was pretty basic to understand and Alzheimer’s is obviously shown to be a main focus in the health care world today.
The American Cancer Society has a big part that speaks a lot about these issues and the costs of certain aspects behind it. Alzheimer’s is not the only long-term disease that is breaking people down financially, the next one that should pop into any ones head should be, cancer. There are so many different types of cancer. Cancer has been an ongoing health nightmare for years. There is no way around cancer, other than to pay enormous amounts of money to keep up with chemo or any other health trial out in the health world trying to find a solution. Surgery after surgery or treatment after treatment, bills eventually pile up, and insurance begins to be problematic.
The research shows a lot about the cost behind cancer, one of the first things stated was talking about how insurance cant always keep you out of the deep end. Cancer is the spread and growth of abnormal cells. External factors like smoking and drinking can cause types of cancer along with many other external factors. Internal factors can cause cancer too, maybe an immune system or a failure of a certain bodily function.
In early January of 2015, an article for cancer statistics for the year was posted online on “Cancer.org” which is a website that discusses the causes and effects of cancers and helps readers better understand each piece. This article stated some predictions that were made for the year to come. The sources expected 1,658,370 deaths in the year of 2015 due to cancer. Not only do these numbers increase everyday, begin to imagine what its like to pay for all of this to work out as best as it can. Medicare and Medicaid are probably the most important factor in health care these days, considering the financial issues that are arising, this holds a lot of hope for people in some situations. chart source: http://costprojections.cancer.gov (2010/2011) The chart above, were numbers taken approximately five years ago. As you can see the numbers linger, and are consistently fluctuating. Costs are still said to keep increasing.
Although, this long-term disease differs very much from Alzheimer’s, Cancer can come at any age, meaning costs are much harder to maintain. Numbers may seem shaky, but people do over come cancer. We may not many see as many survivors as we’d like to, but stats say we are planned to increase cancer survival by 30% when 2020 comes around. The Food and Drug Administration approved twelve drugs in 2012 out of these twelve drugs, eleven of them were priced over 100,000 dollars for just one year of treatment. A source from consumer health spoke on Chemo (Tarver, T., 2013). Chemotherapy is no joke and is a very long process. The source stated that often, insurance companies would no longer reimburse cancer patients if they receive drugs in pill forms instead of through IVs. That statement has been fought against and almost completely perished. Insurance should offer help in whatever way works for the patient.
Researching a cancer drug costs about sixty to about ninety million dollars, all the money and research and it still doesn't add up for the right drug. If the pattern is not yet obvious, it might be safe to say that long-term diseases are a long chain of undiscovered land that we will consistently keep spending millions of dollars on. Unfortunately there are several numbers behind the cost of cancer; there are many kinds of cancers that require all sorts of different treatments. The numbers will always change, and some may never be surfaced. Cancer is one of the biggest leading deaths in the world. Millions of people die everyday and there are no answers behind it.
Keep in mind, Cancer and Alzheimer’s are not even the start of the long list of long-term diseases and the amounts of money spent to keep as many people as possible healthy. They are simply the two that are known more so by the public then MS (Multiple Sclerosis) or even Cerebral Palsy. Sure, they are known, but the history of all the horrible diseases that exist would take months beyond months to inform people on.
Here is a list of the leading causes of death due to health sickness; (numbers taken in 2015)
• Heart disease: 611,105
• Cancer: 584,881
• Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 149,205
• Accidents (unintentional injuries): 130,557
• Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 128,978
• Alzheimer's disease: 84,767
• Diabetes: 75,578
• Influenza and Pneumonia: 56,979
Source for numbers: http://www.cdc.gov
I found that there is so many components people do not think about when it comes to other non-surfaced diseases.
Hospice care, check-ups, tests. Those things are necessities with any of these long-term illnesses. Costs are skyrocketing; families are digging themselves in deeper holes that they will never be able to pay back fully. There is unfortunately nothing anyone can do. Millions of dollars will be spent, sometimes medicines may help and other times they will fail, it’s all in the process. We may hate how much money health care costs, especially when you are sick, but we cannot forget the importance and the big picture behind all the mess of the bills or lack of insurance support. Comparing Medicare and Medicaid, the two main health resources people receive coverage from, it seems as if Medicaid will cover certain things Medicare normally does not. Medicaid covers more long-term issues and services, as Medicare may only focus on helping with hospital bills. Medicare also is a federal program that provides care if you are 65+ or if you have a severe disability. Now, its understood health insurance can not cover every cent, but people should not fear checking into the hospital because they may not be able to afford the bill, that's not how it should
be. Throughout this research if I have learned anything, it is to only hope we keep searching for ways to improve health care and the cost of maintaining such a thing. Money should never come before health. Researching so many numbers and reading about so many costs, fills people with utter fear to never get sick. Private health care insurances may be a popular choice for people these days. Health insurance is a must, no matter who you are. Invest more time into researching what insurance route you take. Make sure every health situation is taken care of in the best financial way possible.
Disease in the world is always on the rise. There is always a “new flu” out or another shot added on your list of what you don't want to get. Health care is, and always will be the number one focus in the world. People are always getting sick, and we are constantly on the search for cures. Although, one thing people forget to realize, is how much all this adds up to be. When you are diagnosed with a long-term disease, there is no easy way around medical bills, and hospital visits, or even prescription pick-ups. People lack the knowledge of how expensive sickness in the world really is. Health insurance is so important in the world but does insurance support us as much as they should? First we have to understand what …show more content…
exactly we are talking about when we say the word, “disease”. What exactly is a Chronic Disease? According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), A Chronic Disease is a long-term condition that can be maintained, but not cured. One chronic disease that is an issue in the world today, and has been for many years, is a disease called “Alzheimer’s”. Alzheimer disease is a brain disorder. This disease kills your memory and breaks down your thinking skills to a point where even trying to finish a simple task may seem impossible. This sickness is usually sprung on someone in his or her mid-60s. Keep in mind, this awful disease has a lot to do with genetics, and is generally in the family. Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death, and is still unknown to doctors and researchers on what exactly causes such a thing. Some statistics on Alzheimer’s and the age range are shown below,
Alzheimer’s has many complications behind it, and they aren’t always surfaced to the public. According to the Alzheimer’s Association the direct cost for caring someone with Alzheimer’s was nearly 200 billion dollars (Calsou, 2012). Most people with Alzheimer’s disease usually develop other sicknesses, as they get older, because of this, Medicare costs for assisting someone with Alzheimer’s and another type of dementia triples in cost. If you think that's a lot it doesn't stop yet, Medicaid spends nineteen times more. Just those facts make people who don't quiet understand this as much think how impossible this really seems. Keep in mind, that was way back in 2012, making it only higher numbers by now. Sources such as Calsou say in 2050, the predictions for the cost of maintaining Alzheimer’s will be up to 1.1 trillion dollars.
Table one shows the average annual spending with Medicare per person.
Numbers shown on chart credit information: act.alz.org
Table two shows the average annual spending with Medicaid per person. Numbers shown on chart credit information: act.alz.org
The two comparison charts shown above are stats taken from the Alzheimer’s Association in 2015, but not from 2012. Those numbers were listed in February of 2015. Numbers are only increasing year by year, and the economy can’t keep up. Predictions for the years to come are scary to look at. Many outsiders interested in the treatment and care of Alzheimer’s have been fighting this issue for years now. It seems like health care isn’t involved enough, and others may think health care is too involved in giving money towards this disease. Regardless of the issue, Alzheimer’s is only going to get worse.
This problem is not going away. In fact, according to the graph below with numbers taken from the Alzheimer Association, the cost is projected to top 700 billion dollars by 2050.
Alzheimer’s Prevalence and Costs to Medicare and Medicaid Numbers shown on chart credit information: act.alz.org
After researching a little closer into the long-term disease cost of Alzheimer’s, I think its safe to say there is still so much research that needs to go into a disease so severe. Every article reviewed continuously mentioned how bad they predict this disease to become. Many websites and articles circled around the numbers listed in the charts above, everything was pretty basic to understand and Alzheimer’s is obviously shown to be a main focus in the health care world today.
The American Cancer Society has a big part that speaks a lot about these issues and the costs of certain aspects behind it. Alzheimer’s is not the only long-term disease that is breaking people down financially, the next one that should pop into any ones head should be, cancer. There are so many different types of cancer. Cancer has been an ongoing health nightmare for years. There is no way around cancer, other than to pay enormous amounts of money to keep up with chemo or any other health trial out in the health world trying to find a solution. Surgery after surgery or treatment after treatment, bills eventually pile up, and insurance begins to be problematic.
The research shows a lot about the cost behind cancer, one of the first things stated was talking about how insurance cant always keep you out of the deep end. Cancer is the spread and growth of abnormal cells. External factors like smoking and drinking can cause types of cancer along with many other external factors. Internal factors can cause cancer too, maybe an immune system or a failure of a certain bodily function.
In early January of 2015, an article for cancer statistics for the year was posted online on “Cancer.org” which is a website that discusses the causes and effects of cancers and helps readers better understand each piece. This article stated some predictions that were made for the year to come. The sources expected 1,658,370 deaths in the year of 2015 due to cancer. Not only do these numbers increase everyday, begin to imagine what its like to pay for all of this to work out as best as it can. Medicare and Medicaid are probably the most important factor in health care these days, considering the financial issues that are arising, this holds a lot of hope for people in some situations. chart source: http://costprojections.cancer.gov (2010/2011) The chart above, were numbers taken approximately five years ago. As you can see the numbers linger, and are consistently fluctuating. Costs are still said to keep increasing.
Although, this long-term disease differs very much from Alzheimer’s, Cancer can come at any age, meaning costs are much harder to maintain. Numbers may seem shaky, but people do over come cancer. We may not many see as many survivors as we’d like to, but stats say we are planned to increase cancer survival by 30% when 2020 comes around. The Food and Drug Administration approved twelve drugs in 2012 out of these twelve drugs, eleven of them were priced over 100,000 dollars for just one year of treatment. A source from consumer health spoke on Chemo (Tarver, T., 2013). Chemotherapy is no joke and is a very long process. The source stated that often, insurance companies would no longer reimburse cancer patients if they receive drugs in pill forms instead of through IVs. That statement has been fought against and almost completely perished. Insurance should offer help in whatever way works for the patient.
Researching a cancer drug costs about sixty to about ninety million dollars, all the money and research and it still doesn't add up for the right drug. If the pattern is not yet obvious, it might be safe to say that long-term diseases are a long chain of undiscovered land that we will consistently keep spending millions of dollars on. Unfortunately there are several numbers behind the cost of cancer; there are many kinds of cancers that require all sorts of different treatments. The numbers will always change, and some may never be surfaced. Cancer is one of the biggest leading deaths in the world. Millions of people die everyday and there are no answers behind it.
Keep in mind, Cancer and Alzheimer’s are not even the start of the long list of long-term diseases and the amounts of money spent to keep as many people as possible healthy. They are simply the two that are known more so by the public then MS (Multiple Sclerosis) or even Cerebral Palsy. Sure, they are known, but the history of all the horrible diseases that exist would take months beyond months to inform people on.
Here is a list of the leading causes of death due to health sickness; (numbers taken in 2015)
• Heart disease: 611,105
• Cancer: 584,881
• Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 149,205
• Accidents (unintentional injuries): 130,557
• Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 128,978
• Alzheimer's disease: 84,767
• Diabetes: 75,578
• Influenza and Pneumonia: 56,979
Source for numbers: http://www.cdc.gov
I found that there is so many components people do not think about when it comes to other non-surfaced diseases.
Hospice care, check-ups, tests. Those things are necessities with any of these long-term illnesses. Costs are skyrocketing; families are digging themselves in deeper holes that they will never be able to pay back fully. There is unfortunately nothing anyone can do. Millions of dollars will be spent, sometimes medicines may help and other times they will fail, it’s all in the process. We may hate how much money health care costs, especially when you are sick, but we cannot forget the importance and the big picture behind all the mess of the bills or lack of insurance support. Comparing Medicare and Medicaid, the two main health resources people receive coverage from, it seems as if Medicaid will cover certain things Medicare normally does not. Medicaid covers more long-term issues and services, as Medicare may only focus on helping with hospital bills. Medicare also is a federal program that provides care if you are 65+ or if you have a severe disability. Now, its understood health insurance can not cover every cent, but people should not fear checking into the hospital because they may not be able to afford the bill, that's not how it should
be. Throughout this research if I have learned anything, it is to only hope we keep searching for ways to improve health care and the cost of maintaining such a thing. Money should never come before health. Researching so many numbers and reading about so many costs, fills people with utter fear to never get sick. Private health care insurances may be a popular choice for people these days. Health insurance is a must, no matter who you are. Invest more time into researching what insurance route you take. Make sure every health situation is taken care of in the best financial way possible.