The Cost of Chronic Diseases

What value can we place on a less fulfilling life, the loss of our eyesight, the loss of a foot or the ability to use our hands? What if we were no longer able to enjoy life as we once did? What would we pay to turn back time, and make different decisions and choices in our life?

Chronic diseases, many of them avoidable, creep up on us over time. Our body can give us clues along the way if we pay attention. Critically important, is the role your primary care doctor or mid-level provider plays.

When detected early, we can make lifestyle changes and work on breaking long-term habits. Our primary care doctor or mid-level provider can order diagnostic tests and lab work to help identify what may be causing the problems you are experiencing. They may be able to prescribe medications to moderate or lessen the severity of the effects. With some chronic diseases, it is possible with early intervention to reverse course and avoid the disease altogether. That will help improve the quality of your life and SAVE YOU LOTS OF MONEY.

Just THREE (of Many) Examples of The Cost of Developing Chronic Diseases:

Cardiovascular Disease: The total mean direct medical care costs for patients with established cardiovascular disease (CVD) were $18,953 per patient per year.

Diabetes: People with diagnosed diabetes incur average medical expenditures of $16,752 per year, of which about $9,601 is attributed to diabetes. On average, people with diagnosed diabetes have medical expenditures approximately 2.3 times higher than expenditures would be in the absence of diabetes.

• Hospital inpatient care (30% of the total medical cost)
• Prescription medications to treat complications of diabetes (30%)
• Anti-diabetic agents and diabetes supplies (15%)
• Physician office visits (13%)

Depression: An estimated 8.1% of US adults 20 years and older experienced depression in any given 2-week period.

• The average annual health care cost for a person with major depression is $10,836.
• The annual incremental health care cost per depressed employee that also suffers from a chronic condition such as diabetes is $5,000.
• Depressed employees miss 6 to 25 additional days of work per year.
• 9% of employees leave a job because of well-being related concerns.
• 70% of employed informal caregivers had to reduce work hours, find a less demanding job, turn down a promotion or take a leave of absence / retire early.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Chronic diseases are debilitating and expensive. A significant majority of them are either preventable or can be postponed for years IF DETECTED EARLY and ACTED UPON through behavioral changes, dietary improvements, the introduction of more exercise, and medications, if necessary.

In addition to improvements, you may experience in the Quality of Your Life, you will be able to Avoid or Defer significant medical expenses, saving you Thousands of Dollars per Year.

THIS REQUIRES COMMITMENT AND PRIMARY CARE INVESTMENT

Visits to a doctor’s office are rarely something to anticipate. They are drab, dreary, boring places to go to where you must sit and wait until called. It could be anywhere from forty minutes to more than an hour. Often you have a short conversation and leave with a prescription.

WellCraft Health™ is different. Dr. Carol Rupe is different.

Dr. Rupe’s MyPreference™ medical care program is significantly different. It is an investment and requires a commitment from you for improving the quality of your life through better health. One day at a time. Any improvement is good, and we encourage our patients to make modest changes over time, until they become part of your everyday routine.

Isn’t it time to begin investing in yourself, and the quality of the rest of your life?