Health Affairs new issue highlights chronic disease and health spending

Out-Of-Pocket Payments For Health Care Rose Over Past Decade; Increase In
Chronic Disease Played Key Role

A rise in chronic disease, particularly among baby boomers and older adults,
was a key driver of the fact that consumers spent about 40 percent more out of
pocket for health care over the past 10 years, Kathryn Paez and coauthors
report in the January/February 2009 issue of Health Affairs, a thematic volume
on chronic illness. http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/vol28/issue1/ The
study shows that the prevalence of chronic disease in the United States has
burgeoned since 1996 not just among the "oldest old" but also among people in
midlife and early old age -- regardless of sex, race, ethnicity, or income.
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/28/1/15

Other issue highlights include:

-- A report from the federal government that national health care spending
grew at its lowest rate in nearly a decade in 2007, largely as a result of
slower spending on prescription drugs. Health care spending grew 6.1 percent
in 2007, down slightly from 6.7 percent in 2006 and the slowest rate of growth
since 1998. Overall, health care spending reached $2.2 trillion, or $7,421 per
person, say analysts from the National Health Statistics Group in the CMS
Office of the Actuary.
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/28/1/246/

-- Lynn Etheredge explores the leadership role that Medicare might play in
raising the bar in cancer treatment. He proposes more emphasis by the Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on effectiveness research for cancer
treatments; reformulated quality measures clearly showing who provides the
best cancer care; payment reforms incentivizing such excellent care; and new
agency leadership explicitly committed to promoting best practices for
treatment of Medicare cancer patients.
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/28/1/148

-- Susan Brink looks at the benefits and costs of efforts to prevent chronic
disease through the prism of the landmark federal study known as the Diabetes
Prevention Program.
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/28/1/57
*This paper is the Editor's Choice for this issue and is open to
nonsubscribers.*